Fans at the Legends Theater are all shook up at the 15th annual Branson Elvis Festival. It’s one of the few events approved by Elvis Presley Enterprises and it started on Friday and ends this afternoon.

Parker Padgett of Ozarks First visited the event and produced this report for Ozarks First Website: 

The event included a meet and greet, vendor fair and an Elvis happy hour.

16 tribute artists are competing at the festival from four countries and 11 states, for a chance to compete in Memphis later this year.

Ryan Pelton, host of the festival and resident Elvis at Legends says its a blessing to hold the festival as the city continues to recover from the pandemic

“We were shut down for a while.” Pelton said.

“We have been open for a while. but one thing is that we get is we have people from all over the world to this event so we get to hear their stories.”

Over a thousand fans have traveled to the festival because they just can’t help falling in love.

This group, called the Kansas City Screamers, lost a member earlier this month, but they made the trip because they say she’d want them to.

“Because she told us to. She was here with us. She was our navigator, driver. Everything.”

The semi-finals of the competition ended Saturday night. The final round starts at 2 p.m. at the Legends Theater.

The 8 finalists for this afternoon are;

Josh Davis from White Oak, Texas

E-Rock from Buckner, Missouri

Riley Jenkins from Paris, Tennessee

Alex Mitchell from Conway, South Carolina

Jimmy Holmes from Demott, Indiana

Casper Slee from Zwaag, Netherlands

Moses Snow from Decatur, Texas

Tim E. Hendry from Kodak, Tennessee