Elvis Presley sightings were in abundance Thursday on U.S. Highway 79, where Houston artist Eric Kaposta was "riding with the king" en route to Shreveport.
The new Elvis statue will be unveiled October 15, 2004 at Municipal Auditorium, 705 Elvis Presley Ave., west of Common and Milam.
The statue arrived in tow in a U-Haul trailer behind Kaposta's pickup just after 7 p.m. Thursday. Despite doubts the statue would be in place in time for this morning's ceremony, Kaposta, with assistance from city workers and Elvis fans, spent the late hours hoisting Elvis into place atop a four-foot concrete base.
The $60,000 bronze statue stands 7.5 feet tall and weighs nearly 1,000 pounds. The Downtown Development Authority agreed to fund $40,000 of the sculpture's total cost if the Elvis Angels would raise $20,000 in private donations. The fund-raising efforts started in July and ended successfully last week.
The Elvis statue in Shreveport is one of only a handful official Elvis Presley Enterprises-approved likenesses of the king in the country. The closest are in Memphis, Elvis' home for most of his life, and Tupelo, Miss., his birthplace.
Shreveport Statue
October 15, 2004 | Other
gribz wrote on
October 15, 2004
This should be covered by the media, considering all Elvis did, and the fact that it's 50 years since he began his career.
MauriceColgan wrote on
October 17, 2004
gribz, So far 8 media reports on the Drudge Report webpage.
It may be wiser to erect such Elvis monuments earlier in the week to ensure better (Major) media coverage? It will be interesting to see a lot more photos of the Shreveport Elvis statue and how it really looks from different angles.