(CNN) — First came “9 to 5.” Then came the business empire, rooted in the place Dolly Parton called home.
Parton, who died Tuesday, was instantly memorialized for her country music fame, glitzy glam and humanitarian touch. At The Old Mill Restaurant in East Tennessee, Tim Fulton was in his office, trying to gauge how many devotees would pour into Dollywood in the coming days.
His restaurant serves up corn grits, barbecue and blackberry cobbler in Sevier County, Tenn., the center of Parton’s sparkly empire. Typically, the last weekend of August brings a bit of a lull – right after a popular Jeep expo and just before the Labor Day rush.
Now Parton was gone, a loss he said felt like mourning a family member. He looked up search traffic for flights to nearby Knoxville and expected hotel rooms to book up fast. Indeed, as of midday Wednesday, search interest for “dolly hotel” was up 650% over 24 hours, per Google Trends.
“It may unfortunately turn out to be more of a sad, busy weekend,” Fulton said.
Dolly Parton the entertainer was also a bona fide mogul who transformed her corner of Appalachia.
Long before Taylor Swift became a billionaire or Apple bought Dr. Dre’s Beats, Parton built a business empire spanning theme parks to coffee grounds — and managed to stay beloved by all.
At the heart was Dollywood, a theme park extravaganza brought to life by Parton in Sevier County, population 100,000. The investment initially drew skepticism from Parton’s accountants, only to spur massive development, tens of thousands of jobs and a brand known ‘round the world.
“When I first had the big idea to start Dollywood, my accountants and lawyers all thought I was making a big mistake,” Parton told Forbes last year. She quipped: “I was found out to be right, and they were found out to be gone.”
Tourism wasn’t exactly new to the area. The Great Smoky Mountains are among America’s most popular sites. Smaller attractions in the area predated Dollywood.
But Parton’s vision turned into an economic juggernaut. In 1986, she partnered with another entertainment company to create “Dollywood” and rapidly expanded the attraction with resorts, restaurants, roller coasters, gift shops and more.
Parton also kept the commercial empire close to home and employed her family members. That included her nephew, who worked as her head of security for more than 20 years and announced her death.
Now, the theme park and its affiliated businesses draw more than 4 million visitors every year, according to Parton’s website. It is Sevier County’s largest employer – Forbes puts the number of employees at 4,500 – surpassing company hiring in manufacturing, healthcare, retail and schools.
One study put Dollywood’s direct economic impact at $1.8 billion each year. The report, which looked at other local attractions like the annual Bonnaroo music festival, credited the park with creating more than 23,000 jobs in the region and spurring more airline traffic during peak season.
Visitors to Sevier County generated $3.9 billion in spending in 2024, a 2 percent increase over the year before, government data show. Tourism spending in the county generated more than $251 million in state tax revenue and $187 million in local tax revenue in 2024.
Without those funds generated by tourism, each household would pay about $11,100 more in state and local taxes, the county said.
Not everyone comes to spend big. On Wednesday, Natalie Smith, Caroline Justice and Katie Stamper were at Dollywood for a girls trip they planned before Parton died. They told CNN their wallets were tight. They drove to save on airfare. They bought groceries instead of eating out. They split a $520 Airbnb between everyone.
Still, they’d paid to come to Dollywood – and would probably eat in the park at some point, they said.
“We’re on a budget,” Stamper said. “We’re post-grad.”
Parton also brought more opportunity to some of the area’s most vulnerable, including with direct cash assistance. In the early 1990s, she promised $500 to seventh- and eighth- graders in Sevier County if they graduated from high school with a buddy. The effort dramatically cut the local dropout rate, according to the Dollywood Foundation.
After wildfires ripped through the area in 2016, she raised funds that gave 900 displaced families $1,000 checks for up to six months, plus a final surprise check of $5,000.
The result: Parton’s unique blend of big-ticket, dazzling attractions with something her community still embraced.
“Who has said, ‘We’ve over–built’ or ‘This is over commercialized’ or ‘over-exposed’? No one,” said Rachel Wilson, who teaches entrepreneurship at Belmont University and is part of the school’s “Dolly U” program, which Parton helped launch.
The local tourist season used to run from “spring through the fall leaves,” said Amanda Marr, marketing director for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce. Her family saw this shift up close, running a motel that shuttered for the winters, she said.
Dollywood helped expand the tourism season. Much of the theme park closes from January through mid-March. But Dollywood still takes part in Smoky Mountain Winterfest, a festival of lights that runs through the holidays and draws onlookers during the coldest months, Marr said.
“These are little steps of everyone working together,” Marr said, “and being able to create a destination that’s more year-round and has more to offer.”
Jason Carroll and Abel Alvarado contributed to this report.
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