Entertainment superstar and East Tennessee native Dolly Parton will serve as the celebrity ambassador for the 75th anniversary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) in 2009.
“Having grown up and lived in the heart of these beautiful mountains, my love for this area is deep and genuine,” Parton said. “The mountains have inspired so much of my music, and through my songs, I’ve always been sort of an unofficial ambassador for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I’m truly honored to join this yearlong celebration.”
"We are exceedingly pleased by Dolly’s willingness to be an ambassador for the 75th anniversary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is obvious she has taken a personal interest in the stewardship of this national park. We are touched by her sincere love for these mountains and desire to embrace our shared responsibility to care for this wonderful place over the next 75 years," said GSMNP Superintendent Dale Ditmanson.
Parton is one of GSMNP’s most famous neighbors. Her Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., which welcomes more than 2.5 million guests annually, is located near the entrance of the country’s most-visited national park.
To commemorate the national park’s 75th anniversary, Dollywood unveils a new show, Sha-Kon-O-Hey!, on Saturday, May 9. The 45-minute musical production, the most elaborate in the theme park’s 24-year history, incorporates scenic elements and stage effects never before seen at Dollywood. Sha-Kon-O-Hey! captures the spirit of the mountains and the rich heritage of the people who call them home as it takes audiences back to a time of great change in the Smoky Mountains in 1930s.
“Sha-Kon-O-Hey” is the phonetic spelling of “Shaconage,” the Cherokee word which means “land of the blue smoke.”
In a musical journey guided by eight new songs written by Parton, a wizened storyteller guides a reluctant family as they bid farewell to the area that eventually becomes GSMNP. Along the way, audiences meet the folks who inhabited this great land—the settlers, the rail and lumbermen, the Native Americans and the shiners. The show, which is performed in DP’s Celebrity, is included with park admission and continues with multiple performances daily through Oct. 31.
Parton has recorded all eight songs on a new commemorative CD entitled Sha-Kon-O-Hey! and features the title track and “My Mountains, My Home” plus six other new songs that are performed in the stage show. Available at Dollywood, Dollywood’s Splash Country water park, Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede and Dinner Attraction, and GSMNP Visitor Center, the CD is $10. Parton is donating $8 from each sale to Friends of the Smokies, a non-profit organization devoted to preserving and protecting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park by raising funds and public awareness.
“Writing the songs for my Sha-Kon-O-Hey! album was such a joy because the Smoky Mountains and their beauty are so inspirational to me,” Parton said. “These songs and this album will forever mark the very special occasion of the park’s 75th anniversary, but it’ll also help Friends of the Smokies in all the good work that they do.”
Congress officially established GSMNP on June 15, 1934. It encompasses more than 500,000 acres in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina and hosts more than nine million visitors annually.
Dollywood is a 150-acre family adventure park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Open nine months a year (March 28, 2009-Jan. 2, 2010), Dollywood offers more than 40 rides and attractions; award-winning live entertainment featuring country, bluegrass, gospel and mountain music; and a dozen crafters authentic to the East Tennessee region. For more information, call 1-800-DOLLYWOOD or visit dollywood.com. Operating days and hours vary.