PITTSBURGH — The tributes are pouring in for country music icon Dolly Parton, who died at the age of 80 on Tuesday.
In Pittsburgh, that news hit home fast.
“She was in really good shape, so I was surprised. I was shocked. I just seen Dolly on stage last year,” Michael Johnston of Spring Hill said.
“She was very engaging with the crowd. I love to see that from an artist,” Jacob West of the Hill District said.
Parton’s legacy isn’t just the music — it’s on kids’ bookshelves.
In 1995, she started what she called her Imagination Library: a program that mails a free, age-appropriate book to enrolled children every single month.
The City of Pittsburgh says thanks to her program, more than 306,000 free books have been delivered to local families since 2019.
Channel 11 was there in June when the city announced it was expanding with a goal of signing up 65% of eligible kids in the city.
Reading Ready Pittsburgh said:
“Parton was a national treasure and amazing champion for children’s literacy... Reading Ready Pittsburgh and the children of Pittsburgh and the Mon Valley thank her for her selflessness.”
Parton also worked to change the economy in her hometown - of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee where she opened Dollywood, a theme park that attracts millions of visitors each year.
The company that operates Dollywood, Herschend Entertainment, also bought Kennywood, Sandcastle and Idlewild last year.
In a statement, Herschend’s CEO Andrew Wexler called her “a once-in-a-generation partner whose humor, vision, and talent were unmistakable, but it was her heart for people—especially our guests and our hosts—that left the deepest mark.”
Parton last performed in Pittsburgh back in 2016 while on her “Pure and Simple” tour at what was then Consol Energy Center.
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