Tribute to a King

The King and his loyal subjects parade on Beale

Sun records founder Sam Phillips rode a float sporting the Sun logo and a giant silver rocket down the street as Elvis fans from around the world strained to see from the packed sidewalks.

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (CNN) -- The American flag hanging over the front door of the police station on Beale Street was one of many visible on the Memphis thoroughfare. But Saturday night, Old Glory was only the second most popular accessory in the crowds of Elvis fans who waved tiny red, white and blue flags as they lined the famous neon-streaked street.

No. 1 on the popularity charts was puffy Elvis hair with obligatory mutton-chop sideburns.

"I do an all-Elvis show. It's my passion," said New Yorker Frankie Castro, 37. "I've been an Elvis fan since I was 10 years old."

Castro had the hair to prove his devotion. His carefully coifed mop was a jet-black gelled mass that matched a set of bushy eyebrows and thick sideburns.

Castro joined a throng of fans, roughly estimated by local police to be between 7,000 and 10,000 people, to kick off Elvis Week, a weeklong commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death on August 16, 1977.

"Beale Street is honoring the fans, and tonight we are honoring the man," Castro said of the parade and fireworks display the city of Memphis sponsored to officially begin what many locals call "Dead Week."

"He was a great humanitarian ... he was the American dream," Castro said.

Other fans, not as philosophical in their devotion to the King, gathered on Beale Street to just revel in the fun.

Clad in a sparkly blue jacket, black shiny pants and suave Elvis hair, Chad Torres, 23, a worker at a Beale Street barbecue joint called The Pig, said he donned the young Elvis look to "just get into the local feel."

"He was the first controversial artist. He was the king of rock'n'roll and he got the ball going," said Torres.

An American flag is carried down Beale Street during the parade celebrating the life of Elvis.

Fans celebrating the rock'n'roll icon were silhouetted against a pink and gold evening sky as they watched floats loaded with Elvis impersonators and guitar-shaped balloons leisurely roll down Beale Street.

The Elvises and balloons were followed by a dozen hound dogs, trotting with their tongues askew. One hapless hound almost halted the entire parade when he stopped in the street in protest of the extra exertion. Finally, a sympathetic soul scooped up the pooch, placed him into a golf cart and wheeled him to the finish. The parade went on.

"I think it has been good, clean fun," said Pat Kyser, a visitor from Huntsville, Alabama, who remembered dancing to Elvis tunes when she was in high school.

"It's stupid to turn out for a man who has been dead for 25 years, but everybody is having a good time," she said.

Kyser remembered Elvis as a man who transfixed audiences, particularly young women, with his beautiful voice, sexy looks and controversial dance moves.

"Before Elvis, I don't think anybody wiggled their hips when they danced," she said above the frenzied crowd.

A pack of hound dogs are lead down the parade route. Many of the handlers sported Elvis-style sunglasses and sideburns.

Soon after, a crisp, white limousine turned the corner and crept along the parade route, tinted windows rolled up tight.

Someone in the crowd shouted: "Is it the King?"

There was no telling, and it didn't matter.

On the legendary street where he is revered, Elvis -- fuzzy sideburns and all -- is and always will be the King.