One generally accepted truth of life that this is Dolly Parton’s world, and the rest of us are just living in it. You would be hard-pressed to find people walking the Earth today who don’t know who Dolly Parton is, and it would be even harder to find people who know her and don’t love her. Parton always has kind words for others, and has backed those up by using her fame and fortune to do more good deeds than it's possible to catalogue quickly. As such, she has also received numerous honors.
The hilariously self-deprecating icon is a member of numerous Hall of Fames. She’s been in the Country Music Hall of Fame since 1986 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame since 2001. She even joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2023, an honor she reportedly turned down multiple times before finally accepting. But now her name will be in a very different Hall of Fame, one completely unrelated to her normal profession, but one that is still well deserved.
Dolly Parton is Joining The IAAPA Hall Of Fame
Unless you are, like me, somebody who lives and breathes the world of the theme park industry, then you are almost certainly unfamiliar with IAAPA. The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions is the trade organization for the industry that includes theme parks, amusement parks, zoos, museums, and more. Like many organizations, it has a Hall of Fame to recognize the people who have made lasting contributions to the profession.
There are people in the Hall of Fame that you would fully expect to see, like Walt Disney and his brother Roy, or Walter Knott, who founded Knott’s Berry Farm. Dolly Parton might not be the first person you would think of for inclusion alongside those names, but of course, she absolutely belongs, as her name graces one of the best theme parks in the country.
Dollywood Is As Iconic As Dolly Parton Herself
Back in 1986, Dolly Parton partnered with Herschend Family Entertainment to transform the second Silver Dollar City theme park into Dollywood. Since then, the park has ballooned in size, added resort hotels, and has become a major destination for Dolly Parton fans and theme park fans alike.
Dollywood isn’t simply a theme park with Dolly’s name on it. It includes numerous attractions that are specifically focused on her life and career. You can walk through a replica of the two-room cabin that she grew up in, and visit the recently opened Dolly Parton Experience, which includes a museum with memorabilia spanning her career. Dollywood also has incredible food, including an amazing, though admittedly very expensive, pie.
Dolly Parton frequently appears at Dollywood when it opens for the season and when new attractions open. The park also gives back to its employees, as Dollywood has covered college tuition for the people who work there since 2022. She’s clearly as invested in the park as she is in other parts of her career.
As somebody who has been to Dollywood and feels the need to go back again soon, I think it’s fantastic that Dolly Parton is being honored in this way. As in all other areas of life that she touches, she’s made the theme park industry better for being part of it. The IAAPA Hall of Fame ceremony will take place on November 17 as part of the organization’s annual convention in Orlando.
