Dollywood's KidsFest welcomed a brand-new lineup of superstar children’s characters to headline its seven-week summer festival during Dolly’s park’s 20th anniversary. Dolly said,
“I’m just a big kid at heart, and I believe that having fun is the best way to spark a child’s imagination, and I hope we can ignite that spark in each and every guest at KidsFest.”
This year’s festival featured Clifford the Big Red Dog™, Mad Science® Movie Magic—the Science Behind the Movies and some of Nickelodeon’s® most popular characters like SpongeBob SquarePants™. In addition to these favorite children’s characters, KidsFest also included Dolly’s Imagination Playhouse featuring the Penguin Players.
Dollywood and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library opened the park’s Imagination Playhouse with a little help from Dolly herself. This interactive children’s show brought classic children's stories to life and showcased Dolly’s lifelong love for reading. Dolly said,
“I’ve always loved to read and I believe reading has the power to let your imagination soar.”
The 20-minute musicals, featuring original music by Dolly get kids involved in their favorite stories, by utilizing six cast members, custom-made puppets and character costumes against lively, colorful scenery.
Dolly’s Imagination Playhouse, featuring the Penguin Players, brings many of the classic children's books from her Imagination Library to life. The first production was of "The Little Engine that Could," Dolly’s personal favorite and the first book mailed to children in the program. (more…)
An international committee, with the help of Penguin Group USA, selected the book titles to ensure that every child gets the best books possible. Every book delivered to a child’s home, is the collective result of many individual efforts from the person who hands out a registration form to the person who enters a child’s information into the database.
Communities across the nation represent thousands of local organizations, combining the generosity of donors, corporate sponsors and early childhood literacy supporters to make a difference. In 2005, we saw more local school systems and civic organizations come aboard Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The United Way continued to be an important partner in the ongoing network as they connected local businesses, Chambers of Commerce, Success by 6 strategies, and members of the educational community.
Imagination Library's first venture into a statewide program across Tennessee was led by the Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation (GBBF) and included all Tennessee counties.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library celebrated another year of exponential growth. The number of communities soared from 385 to 566 and the total number of books given for the year virtually doubled to 1.9 million. In December, the total number of children enrolled in the program crossed the 200,000 threshold.
On June 18, 2004, Dolly, Governor Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, Barney, the purple dinosaur, and about 1000 children and parents gathered at Dollywood to celebrate Gov. Bredesen’s pledge to provide Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program to every child under five across the entire state. For the first time, an entire state guaranteed that every child within its borders will have access to quality books and the joy they inspire.
During this year, many discussions about a statewide Imagination Library took place in several communities and the number of participating Affiliates continued to rise. Books could potentially be mailed to eligible children in all 50 states, and ideally, entire states would replicate the program beyond their current communities. The monthly book ordering process was also vastly improved and social awareness about the program was buzzing.
A new database system was eventually designed, creating a much easier way for Affiliates to add children’s registration information online. The combination of technological improvements as well as the generosity of Dolly herself, Dixie Stampede, Dollywood and all corporate sponsors meant that communities would only continue to pay for just the cost of the actual books and postage.
By the end of 2004, 375 communities in 39 states were providing Imagination Library books to the children in their coverage area. In December, for the first time ever, the number of children receiving books each month surpassed 100,000 and brought the yearly total of books to 980,000.
