Australia’s first Dolly Parton festival to take place in Narromine this October

The festival is set to take place in the regional New South Wales town in just over a month

Australia’s first Dolly Parton festival is set to take place in the regional New South Wales town of Narromine, about 40 kilometres west of Dubbo, in October 2022.

The festival – which was originally planned to take place in 2020 but had to be postponed multiple times due to COVID-19 – will run on Saturday October 1, and consist of both a free street party and a ticketed event at the Narromine Golf Club.

Among the festivities at the latter, adults-only event will be live music, drag performances, impersonations and tribute acts. A Dolly and Kenny costume contest will be judged by ex-The Bachelor star Abbie Chatfield and TV personality Rowdie Walden. Tickets for the festival are on sale.

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“Everybody loves Dolly, she’s just the complete package,” organiser Susie Rae told the Daily Liberal. “She’s so flamboyant and spreads happiness, and encourages people to be themselves.

“The whole event is about supporting regional and rural communities, because we have done it really tough. And sometimes we feel we are forgotten, the big cities get all the attention. So it’s about bringing people to our community and showing them what it’s all about.”

In November, Parton will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Eminem, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, Eurythmics, Carly Simon, Judas Priest and Pat Benatar.

After she was nominated, Parton initially refused the honour on the grounds that she didn’t feel that she had “earned the right”. Nevertheless, the Rock Hall declared she would still be eligible. Parton later reversed her stance, saying said she would accept the title should she be voted in.

The day after she was named as part of the Class of 2022, Parton explained her initial hesitance in an interview with Billboard, saying she was “honored” that people voted for her, that she “appreciate[s] the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame people for staying there with me”, and that she “never meant to cause trouble or stir up any controversy”.

Parton explained: “It was just always my belief – and I think millions of other people out there too – I always thought the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was just set up for the greatest people in the rock ‘n’ roll business.

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“I just didn’t feel like I really measured up to that, and I don’t want to take anything away from the people that have worked so hard,” she continued. “I found out later that it’s far more than that, obviously… I’m very honored and humbled by [the induction], and so I’ll try to live up to it.”

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