Elvis Week: Thousands of fans honor the King and Lisa Marie Presley at Candlelight Vigil

A bright patch of yellow dominated a central portion of the folded pleat of several thousand Elvis fans that formed Tuesday night outside the gates of Graceland, in anticipation of the 45th annual Candlelight Vigil procession to the Elvis Presley grave on the south side of the mansion.

From a closer vantage, the yellow was revealed to be a cluster of matching T-shirts worn by a couple dozen members of the Elvis Matters fan club of Belgium and the Netherlands. Each shirt bore the slogan: "It's Very Cool To Be An Elvis Fan."

The premise had a double meaning Tuesday night: The temperature was an extraordinarily pleasant 72 degrees as the fans with lighted candles began the slow, stately hike to the Meditation Garden on the south side of the mansion where Elvis and other members of the Presley family are interred. The weather was a comfort on an evening when the Presley faithful were mourning not just the King of Rock 'n' Roll but the singer's only child, Lisa Marie Presley, who died Jan. 12 at 54 and whose grave is located opposite her father's.

Sarah Bullock, 21, of Jackson, Tennessee, placed a small sign honoring what she called Lisa Marie's "badass attitude" by the grave. Crafted by Bullock, the sign bears a collage of cut-out Lisa Marie portraits around the block letters "LMFP," which stands for "Lisa Marie [profanity] Presley," a phrase Elvis' daughter used in an interview.

"I love her music," said Bullock, who met Lisa Marie days before her death, at the Jan. 8 public celebration at Graceland of what would have been Elvis' 88th birthday. In fact, the loudspeakers outside Graceland on Tuesday played some recordings by Lisa Marie prior to the vigil, breaking an all-Elvis-music tradition.

Dava Asker of Glen Ellen, California, had attached to her purse a fan-made button featuring a photograph of Lisa Marie and the words: "Rest in Peace Sweet Soul!!" Dava, 13, also had been at the Elvis birthday party in January, so the news of Lisa Marie's death was "almost unbelievable."

Like Bullock, Dava was not just young but a newcomer to Elvis fandom who was converted by exposure to the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic "Elvis," in the summer of 2022. Inspired by Elvis' style, which Dava says took him to "a different place," Dava has adopted a 1960s look: For the vigil, she wore a vintage-type hairdo and an actual vintage pink dress, along with vintage shoes, vintage earrings, a vintage necklace, vintage bracelets, four vintage rings, and the aforementioned vintage purse.

This was not just vigil fashion: "She dresses like that every day," said her mother, Brandy Asker, 42. At school, this distinctive look draws "mixed reactions," Dava said: "Some people don't understand, but some it makes happy. I like that it makes some people happy." Said Brandy: "Elvis gave her the confidence to do this."

The emotional climax of Graceland's so-called Elvis Week remembrance of the life and legacy of Elvis Presley (this year's "week" featured nine days of concerts, panels and other activities), the Candlelight Vigil marks the anniversary of the Aug. 16, 1977, death of the King of Rock 'n' Roll at the age of 42. Originally organized for a few Elvis fans before it grew into a major Graceland-backed event, the vigil generally attracts thousands of people from around the globe.

Early Tuesday evening, however, this year's 45th annual vigil seemed like it would be sparsely attended, perhaps because no Presley family member — not Elvis' former wife and the mother of Lisa Marie, Priscilla Presley, nor Lisa Marie's actress daughter, Riley Keough, who inherited Graceland — was in attendance. (The opening remarks were delivered by Joel Weinshanker, managing partner of Elvis Presley Enterprises.) But the people kept coming, and by 8:30 p.m. the line at the gates of Graceland was very long, and the closed-to-traffic section of Elvis Presley Boulevard in front of the mansion was crowded with diehard fans, curious onlookers, and amateur and in some cases professional artists, who created makeshift shrines in the road out of Elvis souvenirs, blankets, candles and other materials. Graceland officials put the head count at close to 15,000 people.

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Donna Galloway of Long Beach, Mississippi, said that although the vigil itself is a solemn affair, the trips to Memphis are joyful opportunities to bond with likeminded people over a shared appreciation of Elvis' talent and personality.

"I've made so many friends, from all over the world," said Galloway, 56, a fan since age 5 (when she saw the "Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite" special on TV). She said this was her 17th trip to Memphis for the vigil. "I've loved every minute of it."

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Elvis, Lisa Marie Presley remembered at Candlelight Vigil at Graceland