‘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<\/p>\n
One of Steve Michaels\u2019 earliest performances as an Elvis Presley tribute artist was at the Collingwood Elvis Festival in 1996. Now, alongside his business partner Mark Erwin, he\u2019s hoping to resurrect the idea behind the festival.<\/p>\n
From July 24 to 26, Erwin\u2019s Icon Productions<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n And if all goes well, organizers are hoping to learn from this year to plan an even bigger version in 2027 \u2014 coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Presley\u2019s death.<\/p>\n \u201cI had such huge regard for Collingwood putting the Elvis Festival on the map. It was the king of all kings,\u201d said Erwin in an interview. \u201cIt’s too viable. We were really surprised that somebody didn’t go in and try and resurrect it.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the last few years, we just couldn’t let it go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In 2019, the Town of Collingwood announced<\/a> it would no longer be running the major annual event\u00a0after 25 years, announcing that a private company would be taking over management of the festival. The festival changed hands<\/a> at least twice after that, but no successor event materialized.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThis 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,\u201d said Michaels in an interview.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just felt right.\u201d<\/p>\n Michaels grew up listening to Elvis Presley as his family were fans. In 1995, while working at a Jack Astor\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n In 1995, an Elvis tribute artist performed at the restaurant in celebration of Presley\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter watching this gentleman do a bang-up job, my manager at the time said, \u2018Why don’t you do this?\u2019 That kind of got me thinking, well why not?\u201d recalled Michaels. He said Jack Astor\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn’t realize then that, 30 years later, I\u2019d still be doing this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI went in 1996 and I caught the bug,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s learned that he\u2019s not a fan of the competition aspect, instead opting to put on shows that focus on Presley\u2019s younger years.<\/p>\n \u201cI got a reputation for being the ’50s Elvis,\u201d he said. \u201cI was one of the very few young men performing Elvis not in the jumpsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n 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\u2019 drummer DJ Fontana as well as Elvis\u2019 confidant Joe Esposito. Michaels said he can trace back many opportunities he\u2019s had in his life to getting his start at the Collingwood Elvis Festival.<\/p>\n \u201c(I had those) opportunities because of Collingwood,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Erwin said this year\u2019s event is intended to bring an annual Elvis event in Collingwood back to its roots, starting small. He and Michaels are financing this year\u2019s event themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew that we didn’t want to come in and start shutting down streets and doing parades,\u201d Erwin explained. \u201cIf we plant that seed, 2027 … would be the year we would bring the festival back in full swing.\u201d<\/p>\n