It's Elvis summer, as Aussie fans love the king tender

On one side of the world, Elvis Presley's 91st birthday has been marked with a quiet reverence fit for a king.

But that's not quite how it's done in rural Australia, where Elvis is honoured with the roar of hot rod engines under the beating summer sun.

Hundreds of fans decked out in spangly polyester jumpsuits, gold sunglasses and plastic pompadour wigs honoured the king with a parade at the Parkes Elvis Festival, in western NSW, on Saturday.

The festival, which is marking its 33rd year, is held on the weekend of Presley's January 8 birthday, often doubling the farming town's population of 10,000.

Revving vintage Ford Thunderbirds, Fairmonts and a glimmering gold Holden Premier station wagon snaked down the main street, filling the air with the scent of diesel.

Brass bands, troupes of swing dancers and devoted Elvii - the accepted plural for Elvis fanatics - filled the streets, embracing the festival's Love Me Tender theme.

Stephen Slater carefully polished the rims of his white 1971 Dodge Phoenix, which had collected dust as he took his beast on the back roads from Newcastle.

Mr Slater and a friend slept in swags at rest stops during the 500km journey, pulling on their bell bottoms in the dressing sheds at a sports oval in Parkes ahead of the parade.

"It's just the vibe: the people, Elvis, the whole thing. It's the best time," Mr Slater told AAP of his fifth festival.

"Everyone is good people in Parkes, there's always drinking and fun times."

With the temperature forecast to soar to 41C, Mr Slater was unfazed by his sticky white polyester get-up, trimmed in gold and covered in diamantes.

Presley's former wife Priscilla, who met the Parkes festival's founders during a trip to Australia in November, remembered Elvis a little differently on his birthday.

"Our love never faded, even through difficult times," she wrote on Instagram.

"Each year, I celebrate your birthday quietly in my heart, knowing you are surrounded by the family you loved so deeply."

Noah Borg, from Blacktown in Sydney's west, listened to Elvis as a boy growing up in Malta.

"In those days we had jukeboxes and my uncle had a pub, so I used to go there and listen to music," he told AAP.

"All they ever played was bloody Elvis."

The festival was founded three decades ago to draw visitors to Parkes during a traditionally quiet - and very hot - season.

It has since attracted international attention and is officially endorsed by Presley's estate, Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc.

Mr Borg, adorned in gold chains and sunglasses, said Elvis' fans keep him alive nearly five decades after his death.

"One day, they might make him a saint," he said.