Tiffany Steel
Tiffany Steel has volunteered for every festival apart from the 2020 to 2023 festivals where she was working full time for them.
Now she is back to volunteering, helping with the Wall of Fame and the Miss Priscilla Dinner.
Tiffany’s parents, Bob and Anne Steel, started the festival at their restaurant, Gracelands, in 1993 when Tiffany was 17. She has been involved every year since its inception in 1993. Having volunteered at most festival run events over the years including the main stage, street parade, poets’ breakfast, markets, Miss Priscilla Dinner, golf day, gospel service, feature concerts and the dinners and events at Gracelands.
Tiffany said “Parkes Elvis Festival is my favourite week of the year! I absolutely love seeing the town transform in the lead-up to the festival—from a sleepy little town to what I can only describe as electric. Honestly, words don’t do it justice. I always tell people to come and experience it for themselves. When I’m not volunteering, I’m definitely joining in the fun.”
“Some of my favorite memories from volunteering are from the early days of the festival. Back then, the festival was organised by a small group of people doing their best without the backing of the Council or much of a budget for marketing or events. We had to get creative, and that led to plenty of funny moments”“One year, it poured with rain, and our float, which was made entirely of cardboard, collapsed. We were soaked and our singer Brad Fury sang all the way back to Gracelands. We still have pictures from that day, and looking back, it’s those chaotic, charming moments that make the early days so special,” said Tiffany.
Bob and Anne Steel
Bob and Anne Steel have been volunteering since the Festival’s inception – that’s 32 festivals.
“We were founding members of Elvis Revival Inc (ERI) who were a small group of volunteers with a common goal which was to manage and grow the Parkes Elvis Festival. Alongside us, Sue and Ken McGrath have been volunteering for 32 years and through this have become lifelong friends.”
Over the 32 years, the husband and wife team have volunteered in every section of the festival. From the street parade, car shows, many events like the Miss Priscilla Dinner, golf day, poets’ breakfast, Wall of Fame, art show, markets, main stage entertainment, filling train bags, walking the streets distributing information and many other tasks.
Anne said “It’s incredible to see how the town transforms, we especially love how the festival brings people of all ages together, for locals and visitors to enjoy. What stands out the most is how family-friendly the festival is. It leaves you with a great feeling inside and reminds you of the power that the music and life of Elvis Presley still has”.
Both recall many funny and memorable stories over the years, Bob Said “One of our favorites happened when the sound guy showed up to the Wall of Fame without a microphone stand. We were honoring Russell Morris, and he was set to perform a few songs for the crowd, but he couldn’t do it without a mic stand. So, I stepped in—literally! I became Russell Morris’ microphone stand. I held that mic steady while he played guitar and sang, and I’d like to think I did a pretty good job”.
Sue Kinsela
Sue Kinsela left Parkes at age 19 for work commitments but always came home to visit family and to get married. Now she is retired, she comes back to volunteer at the Festival which Sue and her partner have been doing for the past 7-8 years.
“We travel down from the Sunshine Coast to do this with our van and stay with our brother Ken and his wife Sue who have been on the Elvis committee since the beginning. We are ‘Elvis Tragics!”“My main love of the festival is talking to people and learning where they are from, where they are staying, how many times they have visited the festival & what they love most about the festival and the friendships they make, the costumes and the general friendliness of the town,” said Sue.
Some of the volunteer roles Sue has been involved in are: Elvis Central shop, ushering at the Leagues Club and the Little Theatre, surveys, photographic section at Library, judging the junior, Miss Priscilla and also assisted to pack sample bags.
When not volunteering, Sue and her partner go to many of the shows, watch activities in the park, visit friends and enjoy the wonderful music that is everywhere.
Last year they had the good fortune to visit Graceland with ETA Mark Andrew and a group of Aussies. She said “We still love the Parkes Elvis Festival because of the different themes each year, how the shops are decorated to the themes including the staff, we have so much admiration for this, and their creativity. While we enjoy good health, we will travel down each year to volunteer simply because we love it”.