PENNSAUKEN — When the first weekend in March rolls around each year, the Weber's Drive-In restaurant in Pennsauken springs to life.

The root beer bubbles, the milkshakes swirl, the orange sign rotates and on Sundays, an Elvis impersonator performs windmills in the parking lot.

The King, a.k.a. Mark McMichael, wears colorful plus-sized jumpsuits inspired by the singer’s Las Vegas era. He dances on the side of Route 38 and drivers honk joyously in response. Some Weber’s customers summon him to croon into their cars while they eat.

"Elvis makes people happy," says McMichael, a 52-year-old bachelor who works a day job as a lot attendant at a car dealership. "Everywhere I go, they love me. Even when I’m dressed in my street duds, people say, ‘Hey, there’s Elvis. How ya doing, man.’ "

McMichael made his seasonal debut last weekend, greeting vehicles with a wink of his eye, a flick of his finger and a twist of his hips.

He’ll be swiveling outside Weber’s on Sundays through October. The root beer stand, which dates to 1951, closes during the cold months.

"Seeing Elvis out there is a sign that winter’s over," says Pennsauken resident Betsy McBride, a supervisor at the town library.

McBride continues, "It’s like seeing the crocuses come up. You want to get a tray of root beer floats and hamburgers on your window. Just make sure the salt and pepper shakers hold down the napkins so they don’t blow away."

For more than a decade, McMichael has been entertaining motorists, toting a boombox and a giant container of diet lemonade. His voice may be quiet but his choreography is dramatic.

"He’s a hit," says Weber’s owner Mike Mascarelli. "He worships Elvis so much that he’ll be out there singing even if it’s raining. The water fills up on the side of the road and if a big bus goes by, he pretends he’s surfing. There’ll be lightning striking telephone poles and he may jump but he won’t leave his spot. You can’t feel bad for him because he’s so popular."

McMichael is a local legend in the Philly suburbs and he got national exposure on "The Daily Show" in 1998. Stephen Colbert, then a correspondent, visited Weber’s to interview him. McMichael sang into a screwdriver, pretending it was a mic.

Colbert, in his signature deadpan style, proclaimed that the Pennsauken impersonator doesn’t look or sound like Elvis.

"It was funny," says McMichael, who gets paid for his Sunday gigs. Perks include free hot dogs and unlimited lemonade refills.

He continues, "I liked it when (Colbert) asked what I was holding and I told him that the screwdriver was a microphone. He asked me again and I said it was a screwdriver."

While some Presley fans claim that the King is still alive, McMichael doesn’t believe the conspiracy theories.

"The man is unfortunately dead, ma’am," he declares. "There was no wax dummy in his coffin. He is really dead."

McMichael was first "discovered" by Mascarelli at a liquor store.

"I saw a gentleman working there who had these pork chop sideburns," says Mascarelli, a cook-turned-owner at Weber’s. His sister, ex-wife and two sons help him run the shop.

Mascarelli continues: "I asked him if anyone had ever told him that he looks exactly like Elvis. He said, ‘No, but I kind of sing like him.’ He did a song for me and it was unbelievable. I said, ‘Here’s a little money, get yourself a costume and meet me up at the karaoke bar on Friday night.’ The rest is history."

Weber’s has been serving carhop classics in Pennsauken for 60 years. It has two sister restaurants in Stratford and Brooklawn. They are the last surviving outlets of a fast food franchise established in Oklahoma during the Great Depression.

The eatery was once surrounded by miles of farmland. Today, it’s ensconced within a heavily developed strip of highway next to the Cherry Hill Mall.

"It’s been around forever," says Pennsauken resident, Gary Burgin, a town construction official. "It’s retro because it hasn’t changed."

Although Burgin is well acquainted with Weber’s, he doesn’t recall spotting the King there.

"Anything’s possible in front of Weber’s. Seeing Elvis would not surprise me," Burgin adds.

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