Just two months ago, Dolly Parton appeared in public for the first time in months. But she was not at the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, Dollywood, or any of the countless venerated institutions that might be paying homage to the legend.
Instead,
Parton, who died on Aug. 25 at the age of 80, was at 3686 Pulaski Highway, just off I-65, at a Tennessee truck stop that was being christened in her honor. “I could not be prouder,” Parton said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, before explaining one of the reasons she wanted to lend her name to the venture. “I’ve spent my whole life traveling down the road.”
Parton’s appearance was both a surprise and a reassurance to her fans, marking her first public appearance in some time. It had also been the first time Parton appeared since canceling a string of planned concerts in Las Vegas the month prior, which came after she had initially postponed the shows late last year.
Dolly’s appearance at the Tennessean Travel Stop, in Cornersville, Tennessee, came amid a week of celebratory Grand Opening events in honor of the country icon. There was live music, raffles, fireworks, ice cream, food trucks, and plenty of Cup of Ambition, Parton’s coffee brand that is now regularly sold at the travel stop.
Parton seemed in her usual folksy form, regaling the crowd that had amassed with puns about popular highway chain Buc-ees and talking up her business partnership with the newly remodeled truck stop. “I had to throw my scrawny little self in there,” she told the crowd of her latest — and, in retrospect, one of her very last — business ventures.
Ever the writer, Parton managed to find some poetry and deeper meaning in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for an I-65 rest stop. “Good food, real rest, a little music, and people who are genuinely glad you stopped in,” she told the crowd. “That’s what the road has always deserved, and that is what you will find here. Welcome home.”
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