‘It just felt right,’ says organizer of this summer’s event that could lead to a full-scale revival of the once-popular annual fest in Collingwood

One of Steve Michaels’ earliest performances as an Elvis Presley tribute artist was at the Collingwood Elvis Festival in 1996. Now, alongside his business partner Mark Erwin, he’s hoping to resurrect the idea behind the festival.

From July 24 to 26, Erwin’s Icon Productions has booked the Collingwood legion to provide back-to-back Elvis tribute artist performances for a tribute weekend. Organizers received word this week the event will be officially sanctioned by Elvis Presley Enterprises.

And if all goes well, organizers are hoping to learn from this year to plan an even bigger version in 2027 — coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Presley’s death.

“I had such huge regard for Collingwood putting the Elvis Festival on the map. It was the king of all kings,” said Erwin in an interview. “It’s too viable. We were really surprised that somebody didn’t go in and try and resurrect it.

“Over the last few years, we just couldn’t let it go,” he said.

In 2019, the Town of Collingwood announced it would no longer be running the major annual event after 25 years, announcing that a private company would be taking over management of the festival. The festival changed hands at least twice after that, but no successor event materialized.

Michaels and Erwin first starting thinking about starting their own festival in 2019 when the news broke. The pandemic got in the way in 2020, but the conversations between the two about the prospect continued.

“This year, we thought, maybe it’s time to do something. Let’s stop talking about it, and act. Let’s see if there are other people that feel like us,” said Michaels in an interview.

“It just felt right.”

Michaels grew up listening to Elvis Presley as his family were fans. In 1995, while working at a Jack Astor’s in Burlington, he said he would spend his days waiting tables while humming along to old Elvis songs, to the point where he earned the nickname Elvis there.

In 1995, an Elvis tribute artist performed at the restaurant in celebration of Presley’s birthday.

“After watching this gentleman do a bang-up job, my manager at the time said, ‘Why don’t you do this?’ That kind of got me thinking, well why not?” recalled Michaels. He said Jack Astor’s bought him a microphone and gave him some money to buy some karaoke tracks, and he started performing as Elvis at the then-three Jack Astor’s locations.

“I didn’t realize then that, 30 years later, I’d still be doing this,” he said.

The next year, he decided to try his hand at the famous Collingwood Elvis Festival, which was then in its second year. He performed at the festival every year between 1996 and 2001.

“I went in 1996 and I caught the bug,” he said.

In 2001, he won The Images of Elvis (now called Images of the King) World Competition in Memphis, and has continued performing as an Elvis tribute artist off and on ever since. Although, he says he’s learned that he’s not a fan of the competition aspect, instead opting to put on shows that focus on Presley’s younger years.

“I got a reputation for being the ’50s Elvis,” he said. “I was one of the very few young men performing Elvis not in the jumpsuit.”

He has returned to Collingwood on multiple occasions to do one-off shows at the Gayety Theatre, has performed in his own band and even met and worked with Elvis’ drummer DJ Fontana as well as Elvis’ confidant Joe Esposito. Michaels said he can trace back many opportunities he’s had in his life to getting his start at the Collingwood Elvis Festival.

“(I had those) opportunities because of Collingwood,” he said.

Meanwhile, Erwin said this year’s event is intended to bring an annual Elvis event in Collingwood back to its roots, starting small. He and Michaels are financing this year’s event themselves.

“We knew that we didn’t want to come in and start shutting down streets and doing parades,” Erwin explained. “If we plant that seed, 2027 … would be the year we would bring the festival back in full swing.”

Michaels will be a feature of the July event, alongside tribute artists Mat Shank, Ted Torres, Jimmy Holmes and Bruno Nesci. Holmes is Elvis Presley Enterprises’ 2025 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist.

Michaels is planning to perform a Midnight in Vegas tribute — one he also performed at the Collingwood Elvis Festival in 2010. Tickets are available for individual events, or a weekend pass for all events.

“I am tipping my hat to my last performance,” he said. “It’s kind of like full-circle thing.”

Overall, Michaels is optimistic that this year will be enough of a success to come back bigger and better in 2027 and beyond.

“I’ll just keep my fingers crossed and my blue suede shoes tied up tightly,” he said.

Collingwood Elvis Weekend Schedule

July 24


6:30 p.m. – A Date with Elvis
9 p.m. – ’68 Burbank ‘The Comeback’ featuring Ted Torres

July 25


1 p.m. – Moody Blue ‘The Jungle Room Sessions with Bruno Nesci
3:30 p.m. – Epic VIP Meet & Greet
7:30 p.m. – Elvis in Concert with Jimmy Holmes
10:30 p.m. – Elvis Midnight in Vegas with Steve Michaels

July 26


11 a.m. – An Elvis Gospel Celebration
1 p.m. – Elvis ’56 to Hollywood with Mat Shank
3:15 p.m. – Reel to Real ‘In the Studio’ with Ted Torres and Bruno Nesci
7 p.m. – Epic Elvis Finale with Jimmy Holmes and Steve Michaels