Celebrity

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

Dolly Parton is known as the Dreamer in Chief of Dollywood. Is that just a title or is the country superstar really involved in what goes on at the theme park?

by Kelsey Goeres

Published on June 6, 2023

2 min read

Dolly Parton always wanted to have her own theme park

Dolly Parton is the queen of manifestation. From a young age she’d write down big dreams for herself to accomplish. She’d marvel as each and every one of them came true. One early dream of the “Jolene” singer’s was to have her own 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 told 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, even though it is a lot of work.

Dolly Parton is Dreamer in Chief of Dollywood

The “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” singer owns Dollywood in partnership with Herschend Family Entertainment (which also owns Silver Dollar City, Adventure Aquarium, and Six Flags Darien Lake). Though the arrangement is a partnership, Parton is Dreamer in Chief of the whole operation. Just about everything that goes on in the park runs by her, which is fitting because the park is so deeply personalized to the country singer’s life. The “Coat of Many Colors” singer adores sharing who she is via Dollywood.

“I love that because this is who we are,” she said. “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 leader, Parton strives to keep an open mind to new ideas so Dollywood can be the best it can possibly 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 said.

Dollywood is the biggest employer in Sevier County

In addition to serving the visitors of Dollywood, Parton serves the people of Sevier County, where Dollywood is located.

“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,” according to a Tennessee Department of Transportation case study.

And not only is the park the biggest employer in the county, it’s one of the best in the country. Seasonal, part-time, and full-time employees of Dollywood get benefits like childcare and educational support with covering 100% of tuition, fees, and books.

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