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$500 first prize in Elvis impersonation contest

Thank you very much…
Photo by Steven Dahlman

(Above) Elvis impersonator Pete Tidd selects a scarf from assistant Thomas Adamson Thursday evening while performing in a contest at Dick’s Last Resort. (Click on image to view larger version.)

The 36-year-old Lyons native won the contest and $500 and then left the building.

His luck has been improving since a 2002 incident in Cicero in which he fell into an open manhole, injuring his left leg. He won $600,000 in a lawsuit against the town – and he wasn’t even suing for that much. As reported by Rolling Stone magazine, he wanted $150,000 to cover medical expenses but a jury decided he should get more because the accident limited mobility needed for his act.

“My leg is doing a little bit better,” says Tidd. “I can’t do the things I used to, like the kicks or stretch down…but I’m getting better as time goes by, after having six surgeries on my knee. I have to say I’m getting there.”