The passing of American music icon Dolly Parton has saddened the singer’s worldwide fans. In New Orleans, it has a special impact on the women of the Krewe of Dolly, who have celebrated the feminist superstar for five years.
The Carnival marching club has been planning a memorial parade, and now partnered with the city for a Celebration of Life event on Friday, Sept. 25.
Soon after Parton’s death on Aug. 25, a state senator from her home state of Tennessee proposed a bill to create “9 to 5 Day” in the state on 9/25, a reference to one of her most popular songs.
Mayor Helena Moreno and the New Orleans City Council also plan to recognize the day as “Dolly Day” in New Orleans and hope it can be “the beginning of a new annual krewe tradition,” the city announced recently.
The krewe had originally applied for a parade permit for a memorial second-line on Saturday, Sept. 5, but the city said “the French Quarter was already approved for a major special event… which prohibits additional parades.”
The new date “will allow additional time for organizers and the City to coordinate logistics and build an even more memorable celebration honoring the life, joy, generosity and extraordinary legacy of Dolly Parton,” the city said in a statement that ended with a Parton quote: “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”
The 750 Dollys are typically a spectacle as they promenade en masse, costumed in the signature blonde wigs and glittering frocks of the cultural icon. A large contingent of Dollys participated in the recent Mid-Summer Mardi Gras parade in the Carrollton neighborhood.
The Memorial Parade will begin at 5 p.m. at Louis Armstrong Park on the edge of the French Quarter, with lineup at 4 p.m. The parade concludes at the New Orleans Jazz Museum, 400 Esplanade Ave.
