Memphis Fairground Amusement Park

When Elvis was at home he had a lot of hobbies. Elvis loved horse riding, his motorbike’s, cars, footbal and shooting with his guns. Elvis played a lot around Graceland during the years but he often was looking for fun outside Graceland.
He went to cinemas and Fairgrounds. During the 60’s Elvis went often to the Memphis Fairground Amusement park. This fairground was near Graceland on East parkway south/ Memphis Tennessee 38014. After closing time he rented the fairground just for himself and his friends. Often Elvis had more than 30 people with him and he paid for everyone. Elvis didn’t only pay for the attractions but even for the food. A bill from May 1966:

201 cokes $ 0,15 each $ 30,15
78 Pronto Pups $ 0,25 each - 19,50
2 bags of Peanuts $ 0.10 each - 0,20
16 Candy Bars $ 0.10 each - 1,60
58 cups of coffee $ 0,10 each - 5,80
31 Ice creams sandwiches $ 0,15 each - 4,65
5 Dill Pickles $ 0,10 each - 0.50
16 Potato chips $ 0,10 each - 1,60
12 Devil Food Cakes $ 0,10 each - 1,20
Total $ 65,20

There were often fans with him because Elvis loved his fans. The fans could see a side of Elvis not many people had seen. Most of the time Elvis made some time for photographs and signing autographs with his fans to give them something to remember their night with Elvis.

Still you can find pictures of fans with Elvis on the fairground having fun. Elvis could stay for hours in one attraction and do what ever he liked. Elvis favourite attraction was a roller coaster. He loved attractions that were dangerous like Pippin, an attraction that would make you sick. When you were in an attraction with Elvis you had to be sure you liked it because it wouldn’t stop until Elvis said so. Elvis spend allot of money on the fairground because Elvis could do this night after night until he had enough. One night could cost $630, - and that’s for 6 hours of fun.