I have made regular trips for several years to Graceland for Elvis Week in August. Graceland also has activities in January to celebrate Elvis’ birthday. I have never visited Graceland during his birthday celebration. They don’t have anything that goes on during his birthday celebration that compares to the Candlelight Vigil experience. It doesn’t attract as many people so it’s not an environment that seems to be as good for people watching. Still, many Elvis fans from around the world come to Memphis for his birthday. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to travel through Memphis on a Monday after Elvis’ birthday when it fell on a weekend.
I was had a flight book from Memphis through Atlanta. I noticed many people that looked like Elvis fans in the airport. There were several people with hats and shirts from Graceland commemorating Elvis’ birthday. I was almost certain that some of these people would be on my flight. This was before I had started going to the Candlelight Vigil each year. I did interact with any of the people other than watching them. The airline knew their audience and played Elvis music on plane during boarding. I boarded relatively early and watched as the Elvis fans filed in. At some point, I found out that most of the fans were from Britain. Many of them started singing along with the music. This was before September 11, 2001 so the rules for travel were looser than they are now. Boarding came to a grinding halt when someone came on with a huge Velvet Elvis painting in a frame. They expected to be able to either put this under their seat or in the above head storage. The whole situation was very laid back and the flight crew was patient with the guy and his painting. There was absolutely no way it was going to fit where the guy wanted to keep it and he couldn’t keep it in his lap. I don’t think he wanted to let go of it but he finally let the flight crew take it. I’m not sure where it was stored during the flight.