Can music festivals save Australia's failing towns? By Phil Mercer

BBC News, Sydney Published duration 13 January 2017

image copyright Parkes Shire Council image caption Parkes' Elvis parade has grown from modest beginnings in 1993

They are unlikely saviours but Elvis Presley, ABBA and Bob Marley are helping to revive the fortunes of small outback towns in Australia.

Their enduring music, fashion and legend have spawned festivals that are reversing the demoralising effects of drought and economic decline.

The most glittering takes place this week in Parkes, a farming community 350km (217 miles) west of Sydney, named after Sir Henry Parkes, one of the founding fathers of modern Australia, who was born half a world away in Coventry.

Parkes is being transformed by more than 20,000 Elvis loyalists in a motley collection of flared jumpsuits, a galaxy of sequins, jet-black wigs and sideburns, along with cockpit aviator sunglasses.

There is a legion of buskers, look-a-like contests, a street parade, displays of Elvis artefacts and an Elvis-themed Gospel Service, which has become so popular it has outgrown its previous home in a supermarket car park and now takes place in a local park.

The headline acts are international tribute artists Pete Storm from the UK and the American entertainer Jake Rowley.

image copyright Parkes Shire Council image caption Parkes Mayor Ken Keith says everyone in the town embraces the festival

The real King - who would have celebrated his 82nd birthday last week- may never have travelled to Australia, but 40 years after his death, his appeal remains as magnetic as ever.

"I remember when he died the world just went crazy. It was a pretty devastating time," said Sheridan Woodcroft from Melbourne, as she boarded the Elvis Express, a special train service from Sydney to Parkes. "He just had the X-factor. He was so charismatic, he was gorgeous."

Australia's biggest Elvis festival was borne out of economic necessity.

Back in the early 1990s, mid-summer trade in baking-hot Parkes was sluggish but Bob Steel, 75, and his wife Anne, owners of the Gracelands restaurant, had a plan.

"It was a pretty slack time. I went to a hoteliers' meeting and they were all having their grizzle about quiet times. I said, well, Elvis's birthday is in January and we could have a birthday party," Mr Steel told the BBC.

image copyright Parkes Shire Council image caption Parkes' Elvis festival now generates about A$13m (US$9.6m) each year

And they did. In January 1993, 190 people attended the inaugural event in the Steels' restaurant.

From simple beginnings, the festival now generates about A$13m (US$9.7m, £7.9m) each year.

"It's a tremendous economic benefit and it has really revived a town that was struggling. [Parkes] is now a place that people have heard about, they stop there when they are travelling through," said John Connell from the University of Sydney, who has written a book about the festival.

His co-author Chris Gibson, a professor of geography at the University of Wollongong, explained that they had researched how various carnivals - from those celebrating scones and pumpkins to music and art - can benefit small country towns in Australia.

image caption Academics Chris Gibson (l) and John Connell (r) say music festivals can reinvent fading towns

"There's a spirit of quirky eclecticism and larrikin [boisterous or maverick] humour in country Australia that comes out at these sorts of festivals. They can reinvent the story of a place, really," said Professor Gibson, dressed in a purple Elvis costume at Sydney's Central Station.

"Although there are still jobs in agriculture, it is a fading industry, whereas the future is really about tourism, music, creativity and culture," he added.

Kandos, in the Mudgee winemaking district of New South Wales, hosts a Bob Marley festival, while since 2012 fans of ABBA have headed to the town of Trundle for its annual homage to Sweden's finest.

image caption Elvis tribute singer John Collins says Parkes' Elvis festival is on many people's bucket list

Elsewhere the tasty Food (Food of Orange District) jamboree draws large crowds, while the Tamworth Country Music Festival is arguably one of Australia's premier music events.

So is Parkes worried it could lose its lustre because of the competition in other parts of New South Wales and beyond?

Ken Keith, who is his ninth year as mayor and probably the only public official in Australia who turns up for work in a blue jumpsuit, is not concerned.

"Why other people haven't been able to replicate it or steal the concept from us is just the friendly nature of the town, where people are made to feel welcome," he explained.

This week Parkes is turning on not only a warm reception, but one that is roasting hot, with temperatures expected to climb to the high 30s Celsius.

image copyright Alamy image caption Simone Collison (far r) and friends joined fellow fans for the Elvis express train from Sydney

Also celebrating a quarter of a century as an Elvis tribute singer is John Collins, who, as a marriage celebrant, officiates at Elvis-themed weddings all over Australia.

"The Parkes Elvis festival is something everyone has to put on their bucket list. You've got to go at least once. One of the entertainers last year nearly cried when he had to go home. He didn't want it to finish," he said.

As the Elvis Express prepared to roll out of Sydney - on what is quite likely to be Australia's most high-spirited rail journey - Simone Collison from Menangle had gathered with her friends for the trip.

They all wore matching black and white spotted outfits with pink tops and sunglasses. Asked why a singer who died so long ago still had so many devoted fans, she said simply: "Everyone still loves him. That will never die."