Parkes hosts a yearly Elvis Presley Festival in early January to celebrate Elvis Presley's birthday. The first festival, held in 1993, was a one night show with 200 people coming along. Over the next few years more events were added and the festival was extended to two days. By January 2005 the 3,500 people came to the festival. In January 2006 there were 5,000 going to the festival. It brought about $8 million into Parkes.