Parkes Elvis Festival Update

Parkes Elvis Festival would like to update all our stakeholders on current planning for the 2021 Festival that is scheduled to take place from 6-10 January 2021.

Parkes Shire Mayor, Cr Ken Keith OAM said “The health and safety of the community will come first in the decision of the 2021 Festival proceeding. However, with just over five months to go we are still hopeful that the 2021 Festival will proceed as planned and do not want to be premature in cancelling an event that has such a positive impact on the region.”

Supporting the Mayor with the update, Festival Director Cathy Treasure said, “We don’t have a crystal ball, so we are looking into all possible options and closely monitoring the situation. The safety and well-being of our community, staff, artists, fans and businesses is foremost in our planning, and we are evaluating moving the Festival to another date or cancelling it altogether.”

The Festival team have been contingency planning and monitoring the situation since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As you can probably imagine, a festival of this size takes year-round planning, therefore we are continuing to work behind the scenes. This way we can make sure that if we get the green light from NSW Health, we have everything in place to host a safe and fun Festival for everyone,” Ms Treasure added.

The Festival team have scheduled the following decision-making dates;

  • The ticket launch date has been delayed from 7 September to 19 October 2020. No sales will be made before we are 100% sure we are safe to proceed.
  • The decision to move the Festival to a later date will be made by 31 August 2020.
  • Community and business consultations will take place in September to ensure that our final decision is in line with community expectations.
  • The final decision on the Festival proceeding will be made by the 28th of September.

“For now, the most important thing we can all do is keep looking after ourselves and in turn others, take advice from the experts and continue to plan for 2021 and future years,” the Mayor concluded.

As COVID-19 is continually evolving, the Festival team will keep the community and fans updated.