Visitors came from Japan, England, Germany and other countries. Some wore full Elvis outfits, others just his trademark sunglasses or sideburns.

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Patrick Lucas sported sideburns and pompadour going as he walked to the vigil with the rest of the Elvis Presley Fans of Alabama, a club he joined on the Internet. Hunter, 22, came from Ehlange-Mess, Luxembourg, for the vigil.

"I try to be like him, in the ways that he was nice to people and how he treated people," Lucas said. "He was a giving person."

Temperatures were in the high 80s much of the day, sharply down from the suffocating 100-degree heat that greeted Elvis fans last August. About 15,000 to 20,000 people attended, according to estimates by police and an Elvis Presley Enterprises spokesman — nothing near the 75,000-strong crowd that's expected to flock to Graceland in 2012 for the 35th anniversary of the singer's death.

The annual vigil began when some Elvis fans traveled to Graceland the year their idol died. It grew into an organized event in 1982.

This year, fans have something else to commemorate. It was 55 years ago — 1956 — when the first two Elvis albums were released. That year alone, Elvis sold 10 million singles and 800,000 LPs.

Glenys Sites said she still remembers watching Elvis perform "Love Me Tender" for the first time.

"He's got everything — stage presence, charisma; he was sexy, great voice," Sites said. "There's never been anybody like him. I don't think he'll ever die."

Many still remember where they were when they found out the singer was dead.

Debbie Moller says she was seated on her couch when her sister called that August day in 1977 at the mansion. She didn't believe her sister at first, so she turned on the radio.

"I was bawling non-stop," said Moller, who makes Elvis T-shirts and is now attending her 15th vigil.

Like many who make the walk up the hill and see the Elvis gravesite and those of his parents, Moller expected to get emotional.

"I cry," said Moller, of Colorado Springs, Colo. "The songs they play make you think back to what you were doing they day he died."