Like all other team members, Tony Busseri, of ARB Productions, wore many hats at the NFEF. Here, Tony looks after the merchandise counter.
On behalf of everyone at SIDEBURNS Magazine, I wish to extend a very big thank you to Tony Busseri, Heather Busseri, Greg and Alana Frewin, and their dedicated team for working tirelessly to ensure that everyone who attended the 2019 Niagara Falls Elvis Festival had a spectacular weekend. I wish I could mention each person by name and thank them individually, but please know how much we deeply appreciate all you did to make our visit so enjoyable. Pictured in the following photos are Caroline Schat with Heather Busseri, Serena, Brandon, and two servers who are representative of a multitude of employees who worked seamlessly as a team.
Thank you to photographer Louis Young for sending me this photo of Lori-Anne and me at the 2019 NFEF to post.
I would also like to thank the judges (who had the difficult task of selecting only one winner from a stellar line-up of ETAs), the photographers who brilliantly captured the weekend, the bands and back-up singers, the managers, promoters, organizers, vendors, sound and lighting and cinematography crews, those who worked behind the scenes running judges’ score sheets to the tabulator or prompting ETAs, and, of course, emcee Victor J Hanson, who is one of a kind. It takes a lot of behind the scenes work to put on a very successful three day event the size of the NFEF, which, if you haven’t already heard, is expanding to four days in 2020!
Although there were no photos taken at the hotel, I wish to thank the staff at Travelodge, 5257 Ferry Street, Niagara Falls, ON L2G 1R6, (905-356-2842) for being so hospitable and accommodating.
Here are just a few of many, many wonderful folks I had the pleasure of snapping at the NFEF:
A warm thank you to all the ETAs and the fans who love them. Emilio from North Bay (the gentleman in the second photo, top row, wearing a hat), had no hesitation when asked who is his favourite ETA. “The Italian boy. He came to sing for us in North Bay.” “Do you mean Bruno Nesci?” “Yes, yes. Bruno…nice Italian boy.” I am sure Emilio is very happy that his favourite ETA won the Peoples’ Choice award, an honour shared by first place winner of the 2019 NFEF, Sylvain Leduc, who will represent the NFEF at the Ultimate competition in Memphis in August, 2019. Taylor Rodriguez, who wowed the audience with his spectacular performances throughout the competition, placed second. Congratulations to the top three and to all of the ETAs for your stunning performances on stage, and for your genuine kindness off stage.
With much appreciation, I wish to thank Kay Shannon, NFEF judge and owner of Deja Vu Tributes, Cathie Korsakas, volunteer for the Collingwood Elvis Festival in the office of organizer, Rosemarie Garrity O’Brien, and Caroline Schat, who is an intern at Sherry Management, for securing a time and location at the NFEF that allowed me to complete interviews that I had been working on for some time. And thank you, Alanna Frewin, partner in the NFEF and Greg Frewin Theatre, who, in her magician husband Greg Frewin’s absence, answered his interview questions. On behalf of all the fans who are going to love the interviews that I will be posting in the weeks to come, thank you all so very much.
Thank you to Deborah Hamilton, The Elvis Flower Lady, for the lovely blue rose that she gave me as a souvenir of the 2019 NFEF; and thank you, Wendy, the front desk personnel who helped me find Elvis on my visit to the Niagara Falls Madame Toussards Wax Museum.
Edtior’s Note: I needed help in finding the wax figure of Elvis. I thought it was Jerry Lee Lewis until I read his name tag. And was Elvis Presley ever a bartender? They have Elvis behind a bar with Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe waiting for their drinks…lol. But all joking aside, the Wax Museum is a lot of fun to visit; however, you may not want to go on the tour alone. I felt a bit spooked with all the eyes on me. The figures are so lifelike. And if you have children with you on the tour, you might want to bypass the Chamber of Horrors.
This might be my last big post for a few days as I need to focus my time and energy on preparing interviews. The ETAs whom I interviewed game me some sensational answers, and I can assure you that their posts will be well worth the wait. In the meantime, I will try to post Fan Features, Focus ON, bios of upcoming ETAs, and anything else I feel will interest ETA fans. Thank you for following, liking, and sharing SIDEBURNS Magazine—500+ and growing! Cheers, everyone. C.M.