One does not just roll up and win the Miss Priscilla competition at the Parkes Elvis Festival.
It takes a lot of time, commitment and attention to detail - which Farrer mum Leah Wheelhouse had in spades as she took out the 2024 title at the festival of all things Elvis in the central west of NSW.
"I don't think I heard my name when they called it out. I was so surprised and it took me a moment to realise I had won," Leah, 40, said. "And then I was just flooded with excitement."
The mum-of-three just loves to dress up and had discovered the Parkes Elvis Festival as another outlet for her creative costumes.
With a masters in architecture, she had been renovating her family's home and was busy levelling floors before she set off for Parkes this year with husband Alex Buchanan and their three children.
"We've always had Elvis on our playlist and I hadn't heard of the Parkes Elvis Festival until a few years ago and I instantly said to my husband Alex, 'We have to be a part of this!'," she said, with a laugh.
"Then when I got there, everyone was dressed up and having so much fun and I knew I was where I was supposed to be. I'd found my people."
The Parkes Elvis Festival is held every year in the second week of January, coinciding with the King's birthday, attracting 25,000 fans many of whom dress up in Elvis costumes of all sizes and eras. This year was the 31st year of the Parkes Elvis Festival.
The Miss Priscilla Competition honours Elvis' wife Priscilla Presley and focuses on her pre-1969 look. Leah researched Priscilla and honed in on the dress she wore leaving for her honeymoon with Elvis in 1967.
"I thought it stood out as one of her more iconic looks," she said.
The Miss Priscilla competition recognises both the stylist and the model. Leah made her dress and handbag and wore a cross around her neck like Priscilla's and worked with Adele's Salon in Parkes for her hair and make-up.
She arrived the day before the competition to get her hair dyed the right dark Priscilla shade at Adele's and the next day had her hair teased and sprayed into a high beehive, with on-point make-up as well.
"We just focused on every little detail and the eye-flick is very important," Leah said.
The prize for winning the competition was a P and O Elvis cruise from Sydney.
Leah was also part of the festival street parade, riding through Parkes in a classic Thunderbird. Festival fans also wanted a photograph with her.
"You felt like a celebrity," she said. "It was just a whirlwind of fun and excitement."
Daughters Maddison, 11, and Imogen, six, also entered the Miss Priscilla junior competition and husband Alex got into the act as well, wearing a bright-pink vintage suit.
"I could always find him in a crowd," Leah said. Son Raphael, 9, will probably have a go at the Elvis dress-ups next year.
The win is another feather to her bow, with Leah priding herself on creating costumes for herself and her family for any occasion. She and a friend also got their Agnetha and Frida on for the Trundle ABBA Festival last October.
"Any opportunity to dress up, I'm there with bells on," she said, with a laugh.
