Elvii invade Chaffee
by October 1, 2009 3:08 pm 118 views
Elvis really is everywhere.
He was in four different places at once Thursday afternoon (Oct. 1) while touring the Barbershop Museum at Fort Chaffee. The Barbershop Museum is in the same building at Fort Chaffee where Elvis Presley received his U.S. Army induction haircut in March 1958.
The museum is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and is staffed by volunteers from the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau. The museum opened Aug. 22, 2008.
Ivy Owen, executive director of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority, said the museum is becoming popular, and it may soon open more than just three days a week. He said the museum is now recognized by Elvis Presley Enterprises, and more than 600 fans toured the museum during the anniversary week of Presley’s death.
But on Thursday, Elvis was very much alive in the persons of Michael Cullipher of Sallisaw, Terry Edwards of Crandall, Texas, Kenny King of Wylie, Texas, and Jerry Page of Henryetta, Okla.
The four Elvis impersonators are part of about 15 scheduled to perform in the “Elvis Extravaganza” Thursday night (Oct. 1) at the Arkansas Oklahoma State Fair. The impersonators are competing for a chance to be crowned the “King” of Elvis impersonators.
Page, 16, and the youngest of the group, played guitar while the four sang three classic Elvis tunes for the Thursday afternoon crowd. The impersonators also met Jack Cleavenger and Jimmy Don Peterson. Cleavenger was a photographer at the Southwest Times Record when Presley had the haircut. It was Cleavenger who suggested Presley blow his freshly shorn hair out of his hand. Presley obliged, and it became one of the most famous pictures of Presley. Peterson is the son of James Peterson, the barber who cut Presley’s hair at the Army induction.
Carolyn Joyce with the Fort Smith CVB gave the impersonators a tour of the museum, and Pam Carter, a volunteer with the Fair, said bringing the Elvis show to the 2009 Fair was an easy choice.
“You can’t go wrong with it. Everybody loves Elvis,” she said.
