Dolly Parton mazes open
AP, BROOKFIELD, Connecticut
Dolly Parton’s megawatt smile and big wavy locks are gracing fields across the US and Canada this fall.
Twenty farms have carved large corn mazes to honor the late country music icon, actor and philanthropist, and raise money for her Imagination Library, which provides free books to children.
The Jolene crooner’s death due to cancer on Aug. 25 in Nashville, Tenessee, at age 80 brought an outpouring of tributes. They ranged from a drive to rename the country music capital’s airport in Parton’s honor to a surge in online streams of 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream and her many other hit songs.
A maze cut to portray late singer Dolly Parton is pictured at Twins BBQ Co in Brookfield, Connecticut, on Sunday.
Photo: AP
Now she is being immortalized in corn, with the mazes in about a dozen states and two provinces, from Alabama to California and Ohio to Texas. Most also feature a Parton-themed trivia game, photo ops and other offerings.
Brett Herbst, founder of The Maize Inc, a Utah-based consulting company that designed the mazes, called Parton a “true American treasure.”
“Dolly’s impact on the world and her love for farming is immeasurable, and our corn maze tributes now take on new meaning and significance,” Herbst said.
The company said the mazes were in the works months before Parton died and are part of its annual campaign honoring country music’s brightest stars.
Previous honorees included Reba McEntire in 2023, Luke Bryan in 2024 and Lainey Wilson last year.
Parton, who famously grew up poor in rural Tennessee, thanked organizers for supporting her charity before her death.
In a statement provided by The Maize Inc, she encouraged people to “get lost in this year’s country music corn maze for a little fun, laughter and a real good reason to get lost.”
One of the mazes is in an expansive cornfield next to Twins BBQ in Brookfield, Connecticut, about 90km northeast of New York. The likeness of Parton beams skyward, ringed by the words “Dolly” and “An American Treasure” and a series of stars.
Danielle Gallop, who co-owns the business with her husband, said she did not know much about Parton before attending last year’s corn maze convention at Dollywood, the Tennessee theme park Parton co-owned.
However, she came away impressed.
“They told us all about her integrity and how she ran all of her businesses, and how smart and generous and kind and just really ethical and humble” Parton was, “which is all the things that we aspire to be as business owners,” Gallop said.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.