When I heard the news last week that Dolly Parton had passed away, I thought, “now I know what it felt like when Walt Disney died.”
Like Walt, Dolly leant her name to a popular theme park. But that theme park was just one part of Dolly’s legacy. Her songs touched countless fans. Her performances and public image amused and entertained the public for decades. Her generosity helped millions of children learn to read and brought comfort to thousands of her Smoky Mountain neighbors. She even helped end a pandemic by funding the development of the Covid vaccine.
Beyond that, Dolly embodied kindness. She welcomed and defended all, regardless of where they came from, what they looked like or whom they loved. She stood up for people that other country artists ignored or even mocked. She did that all with self-deprecating wit that helped the world fall in love with her.
With the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., Dolly did what Walt set out to do in 1955 — to create a welcoming space for families to enjoy together, all while celebrating the creative works of the park’s founder. In Walt’s case, that was Disney’s animated films and television shows. In Dolly’s case, it was her catalogue of music, much of which was inspired by her Smoky Mountains upbringing.
Unlike Walt with Disneyland, Dolly did not start with a blank sheet of paper. Rather than start her own park, she chose to partner with the Herschend family, who a decade prior had bought the park it had rebranded Silver Dollar City Tennessee, after its original Branson, Mo. park. Dolly and the Herschends realized that they could better serve the East Tennessee community by working together rather than competing, so Silver Dollar City Tennessee in 1986 expanded to become Dollywood.
That collaboration was on brand for Dolly, who worked with top names in country, folk, pop and rock music over her career, creating hits that continue to resonate with fans. With Herschend, Dollywood grew to become one of the top three most-visited seasonal theme parks in America. Boosted by the success of Dollywood, Herschend has reinvested in its business, buying parks from the old Palace Entertainment chain and spending hundreds of millions of dollars on ambitious new attractions and hotels at Dollywood and Silver Dollar City.
I love Dollywood and admire the original storytelling that the park has developed over the past decade with its Wildwood Grove attractions, including this year’s NightFlight Expedition, with a first-of-its-kind ride system in the United States. Unlike The Walt Disney Company, Herschend remains a family-owned company that does not answer to Wall Street investors. It answers only to its customers, instead.
Dolly’s passing hit hard because she provided a role model for business, artistic and social leadership that so many of us wish others with Dolly’s level of influence would follow. But Dolly was not born to the rich and powerful. Her legacy reminds us that anyone can do better, and do better for everyone around them at the same time.