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Tribute artists prep Elvis Week concert

Set for Friday at Bicentennial Park

Jim Forshey

PARKERSBURG — For millions of music fans around the world this week is simply known as Elvis Week.

And three area Elvis tribute artists are working on a celebration fit for the king.

To many area residents, Aug. 16, 1977 is a day they will always remember where they were when news of Elvis Presley’s death shocked the world.

On Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Bicentennial Park, at Third and Market streets in downtown Parkersburg, will come alive with a musical tribute to Elvis via performances from Jim Forshey, Hank Poole and Jack Evans.

Bill Poole, a longtime music fan and a former area music venue owner, is putting the show together. A show that harkens back to some of Poole’s earliest television memories.

Hank Poole

“I can remember watching a very early Elvis performance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show,’ that was 1957,” Poole said. “I listened to a lot of country music with my dad, but I remember my mom wanted to watch Elvis on Ed Sullivan and we watched it together.”

Elvis mania would return to Poole’s life when he started working with area Elvis tribute artist Steve Sams in 1997.

“I made sure the sound and lighting and any props were ready to go, made promotional fliers for the shows, emceed the event and played the musical tracks which Steve sang along to,” Poole said.

But even before Sams’ tribute show, Jim Forshey (Sr.) was performing his Elvis act throughout the Mid-Ohio Valley in the late 1970s and grew a large following.

Jim Forshey (Jr.) has carried on the tradition started by his father and has also become one of the area’s most beloved Elvis tribute artists. He routinely organizes tribute shows, often in Parkersburg’s parks, and has performed at numerous theaters and fairs throughout West Virginia and Ohio. And he also takes his show to area skilled nursing facilities.

Jack Evans

Forshey works as a physical therapist and said he is honored to provide folks that can’t come out to the shows a show of their own.

While Bill Poole was working with Sams, his son Hank would attend the shows before he could even walk. “Hank grew up watching Steve perform and soon he was imitating the dance moves and making up his own Elvis costumes to wear around the house,” Poole said.

Since that time Hank Poole has performed in numerous Elvis tribute artist competitions, winning the youth division at Collingwood, Ontario in 2014 and placing second the next year in Branson, Mo. He’s also performed in Memphis, Tenn., and at Elvis’s birthplace of Tupelo, Miss. Hank has met several members of Presley’s longtime band.

Clarksburg’s Jack Evans has a common thread with Elvis: They both began their musical careers singing gospel music. But it was Evans’ wife, Denise, who purchased a CD of Elvis music tracks that helped spur him to seriously begin practicing and pursuing the tribute act.

Since then Evans has performed at numerous fairs, festivals, churches and private events. He is known for his accurate vocal performances.

“We’re excited to be downtown helping to add to the festivities this weekend,” Bill Poole said of Parkersburg Homecoming weekend. “Folks may want to bring a chair and some snacks and beverages; it’ll be a fun way for everyone to kick off the weekend.”

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