On Friday, communities across the country are coming together to honor the legacy of a legendary country music singer with Dolly Parton Day.
The day falls on Sept. 25 — a homage to Parton’s hit song “9 to 5.” Parton died Aug. 25 at the age of 80.
Businesses and organizations across Southwest and Southside — including the Downtown Lynchburg Association, the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce and The Exchange Music Hall in Roanoke — are hosting events to benefit one of the causes closest to the icon’s heart: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
The program delivers a book each month to children under 5 years old. Kids begin receiving books from the time they are born until they start kindergarten, which means by age 5 they will have received 60 free books.
More than 31,000 children across Southwest and Southside Virginia are currently enrolled in the program, according to data from the Imagination Library’s website.
Want to sign up your kids for free books?
To find a Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program near you, visit https://imaginationlibrary.com/usa/find-my-program/.
“Dolly Parton believed that every child should grow up surrounded by books, and she wanted to inspire every child to read,” Gov. Abigail Spanberger said in a video statement released Friday morning.
“Putting a book in a child’s hand is only the first step. The real magic happens when we open those books and when we read them together. … Reading helps children hear new words, it builds their vocabulary and strengthens early literacy skills. And most importantly, it helps them develop a love of reading that can last a lifetime.”
Parton started the program in 1995 in east Tennessee, dedicating it to her father, who never learned to read or write.
Since then, it has expanded to five countries and delivered more than 300 million books.
Recent expansions in Southwest Virginia
In June, less than two months before Parton died, the program expanded to the Roanoke and New River valleys.
Through an initiative spearheaded by the Junior League of the Roanoke Valley, in partnership with Roanoke City Public Schools and Vinton Baptist Church, the organization aimed to enroll 1,000 local children over the next three years.
It surpassed its goal by August, WDBJ-TV reported, with more than 2,000 children already enrolled in the program.
Local partner agencies including libraries, civic clubs, nonprofit groups and chambers of commerce help cover some of the costs of mailing free books to families. As of this month, there are 100 active program partners in Virginia, with more than 102,000 children enrolled statewide.
Lynda Harrill, who runs QuickStart Children of Virginia, an Albemarle County-based sports and education nonprofit, has spent years trying to establish Imagination Libraries in communities without one.
She’s worked with lawmakers, advocating for dedicated state funding for the program, which the General Assembly approved first in 2022 and again in 2024, according to E3: Elevate Early Education, the statewide advocate and partner for the Imagination Library of Virginia.
This month, Harrill celebrated the launch of additional programs in Northern Virginia and is working on new programs for Arlington and King George counties, areas of need identified in 2025, according to a news release.
“The map looks a little different than it did when we first started advocating for the Imagination Library. Dolly would be pleased with our progress. We’re working ever so hard in Virginia to secure her legacy,” Harrill said in the news release. “Early childhood literacy is everybody’s business and every child’s birthright.”
But, she added, there are still “more blanks to fill in on Dolly’s map.”
