Elvis Faithful Line Up To Walk Past Grave

The Elvis Presley faithful, sporting their best pompadours and Elvis tattoos, marched past the king of rock ‘n’ roll’s grave Tuesday to remember the 18th anniversary of his death.

“This is like a big family reunion,” said LaVera Chapel of White Lake, Mich., as she showed off five Elvis tattoos, including one on her left arm fashioned after a U.S. postal stamp honoring Presley.

She stood in line for eight hours to take part in a candlelight vigil past Presley’s grave that began a little after 9 p.m. The procession is the highlight of a weeklong remembrance of Presley’s death on Aug. 16, 1977.

By dawn, up to 12,000 Elvis faithful were expected to pass Graceland’s front gates and march up a winding, quarter-mile driveway to the small garden where Presley, his mother, father and grandmother are buried.

The anniversary week, promoted by Graceland and drawing up to 700,000 visitors a year, included a string of concerts, dances, tours of Presley’s residence and nightclub shows by Elvis impersonators.

Linda Moore of Yorkville, Ohio, wearing a button saying “Elvis Is Alive,” said she is unconvinced by reports of the singer’s death to heart disease at age 42. Presley was known to have been a longtime abuser of prescription drugs.

“They won’t let us upstairs. Until they let us upstairs, we’ll believe he’s up there,” she said.

Only the ground floor and the basement playrooms of Presley’s two-story Georgian residence are open to the public.

The street in front of Graceland, Elvis Presley Boulevard, was closed to traffic and the king’s recordings of the more solemn variety washed over the crowd.

Many pilgrims left teddy bears, single red roses and other offerings behind. The vigil also attracts more than a few Elvis wannabes in bespangled jumpsuits and local residents just out to see what’s going on.