Join in celebrating Dolly’s 80th birthday!

Our lifesize cardboard cutout of Dolly Parton lives full-time in the front lobby of The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham, but occasionally we field requests for her presence at local events.

On Saturday, Jan. 17, we’ll be driving Dolly to two celebrations to mark her 80th birthday.

Singer and songwriter Rebecca Porter hosts a January 19 celebration of Dolly Parton’s 80th birthday at Pale Fire. She’ll also be at Massanutten Regional Library at 11 a.m. for a chilldren’s party honoring Dolly. (Grow Explore Photography/Heather Goodloe)

At 11 a.m., you can find us at the Massanutten Regional Library with local singer-songwriter Rebecca Porter for a sing-along, cake, and a reading of Dolly’s children’s book Coat of Many Colors. This event is free and open to the public.

In the evening, our Dolly will be going just a few blocks away for a 7 p.m. benefit concert, titled “Back Through the Years: A Dolly Parton Birthday Celebration,” at Pale Fire Brewing. The concert is organized by Porter, and will feature her band the Rhinestone Roses, with special guests the Corrie Lynn Green Band, Emily Woodhull, Jonathan Paige Brown Jr., Lanusa, Mara Bella, and The Jess Estienne Band.

A portion of the proceeds of the evening concert will benefit the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program, sponsored locally by The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Click here to purchase tickets. 

Give to the local Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program.

Porter, a lifelong fan, says joining in Dolly’s birthday celebrations provides the perfect opportunity “to give back to my local community, as Dolly has done so many times over the years.”

She and her son enjoyed receiving Imagination Library books and Coat of Many Colors is still one of their favorites. “I was amazed and thankful for the variety of books we received over the years, books that are still in his collection!” she said.

Approximately 3,430 children, or 44% of residents under the age of five in the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County area participate in the program. Cost runs about $16,000 a month, with half of the tab picked up by the state of Virginia. Local branches must purchase the books and pay for the mailing costs as well as provide administrative support, while The Dollywood Foundation selects the books, manages the global program and the monthly mailings.

“We’re grateful to local donors who want to support literacy education and sponsors like Lakeside Book Company for helping to cover our monthly expenses,” said Lauren Jefferson, director of programs and marketing at TCFHR.

The program has been proven to increase school readiness, relationships with caregivers, and attitudes toward reading.

Dolly has long quoted her father, Lee Parton, in his belief that despite the global and iconic success of his daughter as a singer-songwriter, it was the founding this literacy development program is her best achievement. Lee Parton, a successful businessman and family provider despite his illiteracy, told her that in 2000 just before he passed away, when the program was just five years old.

Twenty-five years later, the program has donated more than 270 million books to children under the age of five in four countries — including to more than 2,000 “graduates” who have aged out of the program in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.