Raising a Reader Aspen to Parachute will hold what they are calling a “Dolly-Palooza” night, from 5 to 8pm on Friday, Sept. 25, at Townline Trucks in Carbondale. The event, celebrating the life of the late Dolly Parton, will be a fundraiser for the Glenwood Springs-based nonprofit, which, in collaboration with Garfield County Public Library District (GCPLD), administers Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library education program in the county.
The evening is the brainchild of devoted Parton fan April Spaulding, who (as Ape on the Dink) frequently plays Dolly’s songs on her Friday-morning Wild Rumpus radio show on KDNK. She, like the rest of the country, was devastated by Parton’s sudden death in August.
Spaulding shares Parton’s strong passion for promoting early childhood literacy. “When Dolly passed away,” she said, “I asked, ‘What can we do?’” She continued, “My first thought was to help with the Imagination Library.”
She reached out to Raising a Reader because of the organization’s involvement with the pre-K program. “So, it was a perfect fit,” she said, adding that she wanted to hold the event on Sept. 25 as a nod to Parton’s 1980 hit song “9 to 5.” Townline Trucks was eager to have them there that night.
Suzanne Wheeler-Del Piccolo, Raising a Reader’s executive director, only knew Spaulding slightly, but said, “I was very excited to hear from her about the possibility of a fundraiser in honor of Dolly and her wonderful program.” She went on to describe the Imagination Library and Raising a Reader’s connection to it.
The program was established by Parton in 1995 to bolster early childhood education in her home county in eastern Tennessee. Since then, it has grown to operate throughout the United States and in several other countries. Children enrolled in the program receive a free book each month from the time they are born until their fifth birthday, when they “graduate.” To date, some 333 million books have been distributed, and nearly 3.2 million kids are participating worldwide.
Raising a Reader’s involvement began in March 2025, when they took on sponsorship of the program as GCPLD’s nonprofit partner administering it. “We have added 300 to 400 more kids since taking over,” Wheeler-Del Piccolo said, “And we now have 1,776 participating [in the county.]” She said that families can choose to receive either English or bilingual books.
Wheeler-Del Piccolo said that she had to assure several concerned parents after Parton’s passing that the program would continue, saying, “In her life [Parton] was a champion of literacy; in her death, more so.” Indeed, in the first 48 hours after she died, some 40 new kids were enrolled in the local program, even causing the website to crash for a short time. “We’d never seen traffic like that,” she said.
The Imagination Library is only one of the early childhood literacy ventures offered by Raising a Reader. The others, which are available either in the full Aspen-Parachute corridor or in portions of it, include the weekly bilingual Bositas Rojas, biweekly Red Book Bag, monthly 123 Let’s Read and annual (in the spring) Blue Book Bag programs — all in collaboration with participating schools and libraries. Since 2020, the organization has also offered Spanish-language summer camps from El Jebel to Parachute.
Describing Friday’s Dolly-Palooza, Spaulding said, “It’s definitely family friendly.” Music, from Kenny Wayne Gentry and the Companions, will start at 7pm, and before that door prizes will be handed out. She noted that this is not a raffle: “We’re not charging for anything, it’s all just going to be donations.”
A highlight of the evening will be what Spaulding described as a “Dolly-inspired costume contest,” with child and adult categories. She emphasized, “This is not a look-alike contest. I want to see kids in pink and butterflies and other things Dolly might have worn.” Judging will be by Wheeler-Del Piccolo and staff members from local libraries.
Details on Raising a Reader Aspen to Parachute (which has expanded its programs to Marble and De Beque), can be found at rar4kids.org; to sign up for the Imagination Library, click the programs tab.