(The Center Square) – Born just 14 miles across the state line, country music queen Dolly Parton will be honored by multiple entities in North Carolina on Friday on a date coinciding with one of her most iconic, socially impactful and commercially successful anthems.
On the calendar it is 9/25, a symbolic match to Parton’s 1980 release of “9 to 5” – the recording that topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts at No. 1, earned two Grammys and picked up an Academy Award nomination.
Parton died Aug. 25 at the age of 80, leaving behind not only a legacy centered around her upbringing in Tennessee’s Sevier County and stage success in Nashville but more importantly having touched the lives of millions of children through educational advocacy and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Mecklenburg County, home to the nation’s 14th largest city of Charlotte, sang the tune in passing a proclamation for Sept. 25 as Dolly Parton Day. The Carolina Theatre in the heart of Uptown hosts Dolly Parton Appreciation Day and a screening of the 1980 classic film of the same name.
It’s Dolly Day at ATC, the Durham venue known as the American Tobacco Campus where live music and a $9.25 menu will be available at multiple campus restaurants. Proceeds go to the Imagination Library.
Downtown Fayetteville has Dolly Day in the District, with a place for memories and pictures in Art Alley. Raleigh Loves Dolly Party happens in the capital city’s cocktail bar known as Nomads.
On the coast, Dowdy Park in Nags Head has a movie night on 9-2-5 Day: Remembering Dolly.
Three other locations, two in Asheville and one in Rocky Mount, have live musical tribute performances.
At Jack of the Wood on Patton Avenue in Asheville, Nordmoe & the Rodeo host musicians Alissa Nordmoe, Ashley Heath, Momma Molasses and more in Angel When She Flies: A Tribute in Song. At The Grey Eagle Music Hall on Clingman Avenue, scheduled to perform are No Man’s Band, Underhill Rose and Rebeka Todd in the Asheville Dolly Parton Day Showcase at The Grey Eagle.
Back East, Rocky Mount Mills will welcomes a native daughter for Workin’ 9(2)5 with Meredith Davis Johnson: A Taste of Dolly.
Parton gave back to her state and hometown through her philanthropic and economic endeavors. She started Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in 1995, which provides books to children from birth to age 5. The program started in Tennessee and spread across the U.S. and to four other countries. She also donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University for research on the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic.
Among her economic endeavors are her amusement park, Dollywood, and the dinner show Stampede.
Her hit tunes “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You” collectively netted 1 billion online streams and more than 100 million sales around the world. Banjos, guitars and dulcimers were part of her repertoire in a career that include a Grand Ole Opry start at age 13 with introduction by legend Johnny Cash.
Her career crossed over to the pop charts with amazing success. She's in the Country Music Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Parton earned a lifetime achievement award by the Recording Academy, and was chosen for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2025.
Only Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have more than her Parton's 55 Grammy nominations. She won 10 times.
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