Final town-run Elvis Festival kicks off this weekend

Blue-suede shoes tappin' in Collingwood Collingwood is ready for hip-shaking, blue suede shoe tappin' fun as the annual Collingwood Elvis Festival kicks off.

The music, the merchandise, and the tribute artists wearing their blue suede shoes return for the 25th Collingwood Elvis Festival this weekend.

The municipality took over managing the iconic event 17 years ago, but after Sunday the town will call it quits so staff can focus on developing new festivals. Collingwood is looking for a private operator to take over the Elvis Festival.

This year the festival includes dozens of shows at different venues in Collingwood and the Blue Mountains. "We have had 2,523 Elvis tribute artists come through this festival since it started, and that's pretty impressive because that's an average of 101 tribute artists a year," said Rosemarie O'Brian.

Organizers are asking fans planning to attend the event to hold off bringing their lawn chairs downtown until after midnight tonight.

The music starts on Main Street at 10 a.m. on Friday and runs through to Sunday.

For more information on this weekend's festival, click here.