How Involved Is Dolly Parton at Dollywood—is She Just a Figurehead or More?

Dolly Parton is, after all, the face of her theme park, Dollywood. However is she greater than that? Just how concerned within the day-to-day is the Queen of Nation?

Dolly Parton | Ron Davis/Getty Photos

Dolly Parton at all times wished to have her personal theme park

Dolly Parton is the queen of manifestation. From a younger age she’d write down huge goals for herself to perform. She’d marvel as every considered one of them got here true. One early dream of the “Jolene” singer’s was to have her personal theme park in her beloved Smoky Mountains. 

“When I was growing up here in the Great Smoky Mountains, we used to come every now and then down to this area,” she advised USA TODAY. “When it was the county fair, we’d come to town, and I used to think if I make it big, if I get rich like I was dreaming I might, that I’d love to do something special, to come back home and build a park of my own.”

All these years later, she says she loves having a theme park, though it’s a lot of labor. 

Dolly Parton is Dreamer in Chief of Dollywood

The “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” singer owns Dollywood in partnership with Herschend Household Leisure (which additionally owns Silver Greenback Metropolis, Journey Aquarium, and Six Flags Darien Lake). Although the association is a partnership, Parton is Dreamer in Chief of the entire operation. Just about all the things that goes on within the park runs by her, which is becoming as a result of the park is so deeply personalised to the nation singer’s life. The “Coat of Many Colors” singer adores sharing who she is through Dollywood.   

“I love that because this is who we are,” she stated. “This is what we do. And this is what my people have done, the way they’ve made a living through the years. I feel like all the people here are my people, in this area. I even wrote a song, you know. ‘These are my mountains, my valleys. These are my rivers flowing like a song. These are my people.’ All these multicolored rainbows, these are my people. This is my home.”

As a chief, Parton strives to maintain an open thoughts to new concepts so Dollywood might be the most effective it could actually presumably be. 

“I believe in keeping my heart open above everything else and keeping my mind open in case some good thought might run through there now and then,” she stated.

Dollywood is the largest employer in Sevier County

Along with serving the guests of Dollywood, Parton serves the folks of Sevier County, the place Dollywood is positioned. 

“The annual direct economic impact of Dollywood is $1.8 billion, and the park is credited with creating more than 23,000 jobs for the region,” in response to a Tennessee Division of Transportation case study.

And never solely is the park the largest employer within the county, it’s probably the greatest within the nation. Seasonal, part-time, and full-time workers of Dollywood get advantages like childcare and academic assist with protecting 100% of tuition, charges, and books. 

“We have some of the sweetest people on Earth working here at the park,” stated Parton.

“I feel good that I’m just one of the great businesses around here,” she continued. “Of course, now I can’t take credit for all the great people and all the great businesses around here because it all started with the national park, the Great Smoky Mountains.”



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