Downtown News

Tupelo Elvis Festival Named STS Top 20 Event

October 25 2011

STS20
Southeast Tourism Society named the Tupelo Elvis Festival one of the Top 20 events in the Southeast for June 2012.

Tupelo, Miss - The Tupelo Elvis Festival held annually in Tupelo, Mississippi, the birthplace of the King of Rock ‘N Roll was recently selected as one of the Southeast Tourism Society’s Top 20 Events for 2012.

The Tupelo Elvis Festival is the Southeast’s only international festival in honor of Elvis Presley; Tupelo, Mississippi’s native son, with the exception of Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.  The internationally attended Tupelo Elvis Festival started in 1999 as one of only eleven festivals within the United States officially licensed by Elvis Presley Enterprise and includes an Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest Preliminary Round as part of the event.  Spanning, six blocks of downtown Tupelo’s historic Main Street, the Tupelo Elvis Festival features numerous national, regional and local artists including 30-40 Elvis Tribute Artists from all over the world. In 2010, nearly 10,000 attendees traveled from 21 states and five foreign countries to come to Tupelo with an estimated direct economic impact of $1,454,889.21.

“2012 will mark the 35th Anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death”, said Debbie Brangenberg, the Executive Director of the Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association, which produces the festival annually. “Plans are underway for 2012 to be a huge year for Elvis fans to visit Tupelo and we are excited to be able to say our festival is one of the Top 20 events in the Southeast.”

Since 1985 the Southeast Tourism Society has published the Top 20 Events.  Each month, hundreds of the best events across the Southeast can compete to be named a Top 20 Event.  Southeast Tourism Society publishes the list of winners quarterly and sends the list to over 300 newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations and others, as well as 125 AAA publications.  The combined circulation runs into the millions.  STS Top 20 Events are also published on the Southeast Tourism Society web site at www.escapetothesoutheast.com

.

“The Top 20 Events represents the best festivals the Southeast has to offer.  Events that win this honor benefit from the widespread exposure and prestige that being named a Top 20 Events affords,” says Stephanie Brown-Newton, STS Coordinator of the Top 20 Events Program.

Founded in 1983, the Southeast Tourism Society is dedicated to the promotion & development of tourism to its member states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.  The membership includes state travel offices, attractions, hotels, motels, resorts, convention & visitors bureaus, airlines, bus companies, car rental agencies, newspapers, magazines and other travel related organizations. The Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce is a proud member of the Southeast Tourism Society. 

For additional information, please contact Debbie Brangenberg, Executive Director of DTMSA at 662.841.6598.