Old City kicks off DollyFest 2022, a three-day celebration of East Tennessee icon
It is nearly impossible to find a person who doesn’t love Dolly Parton, so it is no surprise that over 13,000 people have expressed interest in attending DollyFest 2022 in the Old City.
DollyFest kicks off on June 3 with First Friday activities and continues throughout the weekend.
Saturday’s Main Stage event on State Street, between Jackson Avenue and Summit Hill Drive, will feature live music, a Dolly costume contest, talent show, and other local performers. On Sunday the Old City Market is hosting a Dolly Market.
The Old City Association is presenting the three-day event to benefit Knox County Imagination Library and aims to attract visitors to the Old City.
“Rala’s Dolly Art Contest started in 2019 and morphed into more people participating and we found that it was really great for the neighborhood,” said Molly King, founder of Molly Jo Events. “Last year’s event centered around First Friday festivities and was limited in scale due to the pandemic, but a couple of the businesses had record sales.”
It was the first time they had done anything in terms of making it a festival, according to King. “But it was a huge success. This year they decided to expand and brought me on as the producer.”
DollyFest 2022 is produced in collaboration with Paris Woodhull Illustrations, HH Creative LLC, Molly Jo Events, Robin Easter Design, and Rala.
“The main stage event on Saturday will be unique,” said King. “I love to shut down a street and put some people in it, seeing the neighborhood coming alive. I do a lot of events in the Old City. We are an involved and enthusiastic community.”
Special Dolly edition of Old City Market
Old City Market is regularly held on the second Sunday of every month on the 100 block of West Jackson Avenue. For DollyFest, a special Dolly-edition of the market will run 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on June 5. “The market director has asked that vendors have a certain percentage of Dolly-focused merchandise,” said King. “One is selling cowboy boots, another has a butterfly theme; it doesn’t necessarily have Dolly’s face on it.”
“It is a family-friendly, free event, there is literally something for everyone. It is music, food and shopping,” said King, who serves on the board of the Old City Association.
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“Historically the Old City has been known for nightclubs, and we want people to come during the day and see what a vibrant and dynamic place we are.”
Participating businesses will encourage people to shop, eat, listen to live music, watch Dolly movies and hang out.
The 2021 event attracted visitors from Chattanooga, Bristol and Johnson City, and King said people from out of state have already emailed asking for information about visiting the event this year.
Old City businesses and organizations are eager to participate and are coming up with unique activities. A comprehensive calendar and map of events will be available at https://oldcityknoxville.org/dollyfest, or follow @knoxdollyfest on social media to stay up to date as events and promotions are added.
“We were even surprised at how much money we were able to give to the Imagination Library last year,” King said. “It started out as just a nice thing to do that was wildly successful. We have almost met our goal for covering the event costs, and anything raised after that we will donate to the Imagination Library.”
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was launched in 1995 and is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age 5, no matter their family’s income.
It is important to note that Dolly Parton will not be at this event and it is not affiliated with Dolly Parton, Dolly Parton Enterprises, Dolly Foundation, or Dollywood.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville's Old City kicks off DollyFest 2022, a three-day celebration
