VIDEO: Memorabilia And More Showcased At Elvis Fest 2017

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s a beloved Tupelo institution. Elvis Fest is an annual event in the city that celebrates the larger-than-life king of rock-n-roll, and hundreds flock to enjoy the sights and sounds every year from all over.

Elvis Fest has everything you could imagine, including some memorabilia that belonged to the King himself. Things you just won’t be able to find anywhere else, now owned by colorful characters just as unique as the items they’ve tracked down and laid claim to. Like guitars, for example.

Tupelo Hardware is steeped in Elvis lore, and it looks very much like it did when Elvis Presley patronized the shop more than 70 years ago, making a very famous purchase. This weekend, that very guitar is back on display, thanks to the generosity of its owner, Larry Moss.

Moss says he went to a great deal of trouble getting the guitar authenticated after he acquired it, but seeing festival goers’ reactions makes all that trouble worthwhile.

“When I got the guitar, I went through a great deal of effort to get it validated, and to get Red West to document how he had gotten it in the car and whatever. And then I was contacted by the folks here at Tupelo Hardware about bringing it down here, and it’s really been a great experience to bring it down here and have people see it, and see the reactions and hear the comments, and get to tell the stories. It’s been not just a lot of fun, but very informative and very enlightening for me, and I’ve enjoyed it throughly,” says Moss.

Tupelo Hardware’s Connie Tullos says the guitar is significant not only to fans of Elvis, but to the hardware store itself. She says she’s confident Moss will always take care of the prized possession.

The store has been a popular spot for visitors during Elvis Festival weekend, but this year they got a special treat: the chance to witness what happened on that day in 1946, when Elvis Presley walked in with his mother to buy a birthday present.

Tanner Palmer and Jennifer Collins were chosen to play the parts of Elvis and his mother, Gladys, respectively. They say they’re honored they could be a part of something so important to the city, and to history.

Palmer, of Baldwyn, says, “I kind of learned from different people about his story, and I listened to a lot of his music.”

Collins is a professional actor in Tupelo, and she says she read lots of material about Elvis’s mother to prepare for her role.

“She was a very concerned mother,” explains Collins. “Of course, she lost a child in child birth. He [Elvis] had a twin, and so she’s very concerned about keeping him safe, and that’s really what a lot of the reenactment is, because he wants a gun and she doesn’t want him to have a gun.”

And as we all know, history proved that mother knows best.