Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 15, 1993 TAG: 9308150016
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It used to be one of those hodgepodge batches of seven meaningless digits, another serial number to commit to memory.
Now it's 56-ELVIS. Kim Epperly says the number was being used by someone else who was utterly ignorant of its significance. To them, it was just a meaningless string of digits.
But nothing Elvis is lost on Kim Epperly. She and her husband, Don, are the financiers, builders, owners and neighbors of Miniature Graceland, the to-scale, outdoor, re-creation of Elvis Presley's life - from birthplace to Heartbreak Hotel to the Roanoke Civic Center to Graceland - and arguably the Roanoke Valley's most curious tourist attraction. Even mountains erode; Miniature Graceland lives forever.
Kim Epperly asked for the 56-ELVIS number a long, long time ago, but it was assigned to someone else. When the number was disconnected, it had to lie dormant; all phone numbers are required to do that so that innocent newcomers don't end up receiving midnight calls to defunct suicide hotlines.
56-ELVIS, having completed its year in purgatory, was reassigned to the Epperly household Wednesday.
For most households, this might be the highlight of a year.
For the Epperlys, it may not even make the highlight film for the week.
Monday evening, they'll be hosting the annual candlelight vigil at Miniature Graceland. Scheduled to observe the 16th anniversary of Elvis's death, the somber event will be a miniature rendition of what happens at the real Graceland. Elvis music will, of course, be piped in.
Lest you think that the Epperlys contribute only to somber Elvis holidays, you need look no further than The Pelvis' 59th birthday, coming up Jan. 8. That day, a vast Elvis exhibit opens at the Roanoke Valley History Museum.
Kim Epperly has amassed far too much for the museum to ever hold, so the two-month show will overflow into the lobby of Center in the Square.
It'll be the first time that Epperly has ever shared her impressive Elvis paraphernalia with the public.
"This will be the slim, good-looking, pre-flab Elvis," said Nancy Connelly, the museum's executive director and the woman who faces the daunting task of combing the vast Epperly collection for display items.
Forty photographs will be imported from an Atlanta gallery to complement the Epperly wares. Indirect lighting. Hushed tones. Curators pointing out quirky Elvisenalia.
"I've met with Kim, and she thinks it's all very grand," Connelly said. "We can't wait."
It is not every city in this land that has a Miniature Graceland, or a world-class Elvis exhibit, or a home with a 56-ELVIS phone number, or an annual Aug. 16 Elvis vigil.
We are the blessed flock - in this regard, at least.
It is the birthright of every Roanoker to pause from time to time at 605 Riverland Road and reflect on Elvis and his five Big Lick visits; and it is our collective duty to dial 56-ELVIS to let Kim and Don Epperly know that you appreciate their talents that draw tourists to our door from thousands of miles away - and sometimes in buses - from their Elvis-starved hometowns.
by CNB