ELVIS, CRYSTAL RIVER & THE MANATEE FESTIVAL

I have some news for you, the sort so unexpected when I made the discovery that it personally left me questioning the order of the universe.   
 
Really, do pigs fly?  Did Honey Boo Boo’s ratings really top those of the Republican National Convention?   Will Beyonce try lip synching again when she performs at Sunday’s Super Bowl  XLVIII?

Elvis would never lip synch! 
 
And if the city of Crystal River has anything to say about it, you'll be happy to know Elvis has not left the building!

Who knew Elvis would be part of the Manatee Festival.

It’s a very tiny building, too, the Coastal Heritage Museum in Crystal River, Florida (population 3,700);

No, not lego blocks; lime stone quarried locally.

and there was Elvis, in his prime, looking at me with those sultry, sexy eyes, a hunk of burning love; he was a bit stiff under the collar, but Elvis was nonetheless in the building. 

We had a better glimpse of Elvis than we did the manatees.

Lochness monster, perhaps?

Here's a much better picture of manatees, courtesy of a photographer at the festival.  But I digress!

The manatees return to the warmer local spring fed waters during the colder winter months.

The crowds up and down Citrus Avenue had been building for the two hours Jimmy and I had been strolling along Citrus Avenue perusing the exhibits.  I wondered as I wandered into this cute little National Historical Site, circa 1939, what in the world is Elvis doing in this self-professed “Home of the Manatee?”, central Florida’s Citrus County. Memphis, maybe; but Citrus County, Florida?

Had all these people come to see Elvis?

Had the world gone to the birds?

There were a few Angry Birds amoung the crowd.

It looked ike we'd stepped back in time 100 years or so as we took in Crystal River’s City Hall, Police Station, and Jail all rolled into one back in 1939. The antique furniture was authentic;

Looks like the goodies in my grandmother's attic.

the black and white pictures were speckled with people from a bygone era.

Can't imagine teaching in a one room school house.

and in the midst of documents substantiating the importance of the turpentine industry in Citrus Country in the early 1900’s,

The railroad came through Crystal River in 1887 and the small town prospered.

there was Elvis, strumming his guitar.

Seems ‘The King of Rock and Roll’ spent some time in the area, and did some time (as per the 1962 movie script, Follow That Dream) in the very same jail.      

Perhaps this was the inspiration for Jail House Rock a few years later.

Elvis was now doing hard time alongside the fish house façade and all manner of Citrus County paraphernalia,

Did Elvis like to fish?

along with a handful of other celebrities, including Babe Ruth and

Here's another babe to keep Elvis company.

film stars Martin Sheen (The Last POW: The Bobby Garwood Story, 1992) and Forest Tucker 
(Crosswinds, 1951). 

Who knew; least of all Elvis?

May he rest in peace.