Ohio's First Dolly Parton Day

Hey everyone! It’s your Goodwill Gal, Amber, popping into the blog world this week as a guest contributor for “Make Things Happen”. Special thanks to Shari for inviting me to write about one of my favorite people! Ohio Governor Mike DeWine proclaimed Sept. 25, 2026, as Dolly Parton Day to celebrate the life, legacy, and generosity of the late country superstar, and I couldn’t be more excited!

I became a fan later in life, as I began to develop my own songwriting and performing as an independent artist here in Dayton. As a young girl, I confess to being better acquainted with Whitney Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You”. I performed dramatic renditions of the big moment (You know the one. Pause. Drum hit. “AND IIIIIIIIIIIII!”) from the safety of my bedroom until I built up the confidence to sing in public.

When I realized Dolly had written that song, it sent me down a musical rabbit hole into her catalog and I’ve never really resurfaced. Altogether, she has written around 3,000 individual songs. For reference, that’s about 10 times the combined total of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. In fact, she has pre-recorded material that will be released posthumously for years to come. Just watch.

There is a lot to be gained by observing the long life and career of someone like Dolly. So, in honor of Ohio’s first ever Dolly Parton Day, I thought I would share a few things that I deeply admire about her and hope to emulate in my own life:

Empowering Women

  • Dolly never considered herself a feminist, but her work reflects the belief that women are intelligent, capable, and worthy of creating the future they want for themselves with equal recognition. I admire that a great deal.
  • From songs like, “Just Because I’m a Woman”, “Dumb Blonde”, to “9 to 5” (not to mention the film itself), Dolly was an expert at conveying the strengths and challenges of womanhood.

Celebrating Diversity

  • Dolly fans may be the most diverse population you could ever imagine. Her supporters cross a wide spectrum of races, religions, ages, countries, socio-economic spaces, and backgrounds.
  • I never once heard Dolly utter a judgmental or unkind word against a singular person or group. That’s pretty rare these days. It’s my personal belief that the deepest desire of all humans is to be fully known and loved anyway. Observing Dolly’s interactions with the public across the decades suggests that she saw the value of every person she encountered and made them feel seen and accepted.

Embracing Humor & Practicing Humility

  • Dolly took her work very seriously, but herself? Not so much. Her quick wit, overly honest and sometimes self-deprecating humor made her approachable, relatable, and beloved.
  • As Dolly became more well known and her “rhinestone empire” began to expand, she never lost touch with her Tennessee roots and made a concerted effort to invest in her home state.

Living Generously

  • Not only was Dolly generous of spirit, but she also made enormous contributions to countless worthy causes. Examples include supporting research for COVID vaccines, assisting families following the Tennessee wildfires, and maybe most notably, the Imagination Library. Learn more about the Dollywood Foundation here.
  • Dolly Parton's Imagination Library provides a free book in the mail each month for children under age 5. This passion project was inspired by Dolly’s father, Robert Lee Parton, who was never taught to read or write. To date, this program has donated more than 304 million books to children worldwide since it started in 1995.

My Dolly Moments

I’ll leave you with my two biggest Dolly moments.

During the pandemic, the Greene County Public Library Foundation put on a virtual fundraiser for the Imagination Library. Their Marketing Manager and my friend, David Obenour, invited local musicians to record performances for the event. At the time, my daughter was enchanted by the song “Coat of Many Colors”, so I asked her to join me for a duet and she agreed. After Dolly’s passing, David re-posted the video, and you can see it here. I’m biased, but I think Lucy nailed it, and it’s a core mother/daughter memory now.

Years later, when Dolly opened her Tennessean Travel Stop, I applied to perform there with little hope of hearing back. I was certain everyone on earth would be interested. To my surprise, I received an email from her booking team within a week. On Saturday, August 22nd, I played a long set of country tunes and original songs for her fans. I never could have known that just three days later we would lose her. It was a long way to go for a gig, but I’m happy to be able to say I played a stage that Dolly had a hand in designing. It was an honor to be invited and I’ll never forget it.

We may not all shine quite as bright as Dolly, but each of us has a gift to bring to the world, too. As my friend Carmelita said this morning, “don’t hide that magic”. I hope Dolly’s audacity to dream and “make things happen” inspires you to do the same.