Good Weather Expected for Elvis Festival Saturday

Good weather is expected for the 22nd Annual Elvis Festival at Little Graceland in Los Fresnos Saturday, Jan. 17.

The Festival was originally scheduled for Jan. 10, but rain and cold weather forced the postponement to this coming Saturday.

The festival is expected to attract hundreds of visitors.

Eleven Elvis Tribute artists have been booked for the event, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Simon Vega’s Little Graceland is located at 701 W. Ocean Blvd. (Texas Highway 100).

The celebration is held annually to celebrate the birthday of Elvis Presley, who was born Jan. 8, 1935.

Gates will open at 9:30 a.m., and the museum will be open from 10-11 a.m. Opening ceremonies are scheduled at 10 a.m.

Tickets are $8 for adults and free for children 12 years of age and younger.

There will be food, arts and crafts vendors to honor the “King of Rock and Roll,” who died in 1977.

Three of the impersonators are from the Valley — Rene Davis of Weslaco, Joe Marquez of Brownsville and Chad Roy of Harlingen. The other eight are other parts of Texas.

The last performer is expected to conclude at 6:05 p.m.

Simon Vega, a retired high school teacher, became a personal friend of Elvis while the two served together in the United States Army in Germany from 1958-1960.

In 1993, Vega turned his house into a museum called “Little Graceland” located in his native Los Fresnos. “Little Graceland” is loosely patterned on Presley’s mansion, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1978, a year after Presley’s early death, Vega composed a song, “The Ballad of Elvis Presley.” He produced 3,000 copies and has five remaining ones for his personal collection.

Little Graceland is a home converted into a shrine to the man dubbed “The King” of rock and roll music. The museum contains many pictures of Presley, some with Vega, which the museum owner considers among his most prized possessions.

Little Graceland regular museum hours are from 10 a.m. to noon and 2-5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. For more information, call 233-5482. Groups and private showings may also be scheduled.