{"id":922850,"date":"2026-10-10T08:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T08:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922850\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T08:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T08:52:15","slug":"outback-town-narromine-glams-up-for-biggest-dolly-parton-festival-ever-following-stars-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922850\/","title":{"rendered":"Outback town Narromine glams up for biggest Dolly Parton Festival ever, following star’s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

An outback town has traded its 9 to 5 farm tools and workwear for a day of bedazzled country glam and platinum-blonde bouffants inspired by megastar Dolly Parton.<\/p>\n

The 3,500-resident town of Narromine in western NSW transformed into “Dollymine” for its annual October festival, which celebrates the country music icon, who died in August at the age of 80.<\/p>\n

“So this is Dollymine \u2014 not Narromine \u2014 for the weekend,” attendee Juanita Peardon said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Narromine has tuned into “Dollymine” for the annual festival this weekend. (ABC Western Plains: Catherine James)<\/p>\n

A record number of visitors were urged to leave their frown at the updated town sign for this year’s event.<\/p>\n

Along the streets of “Dollymine”, a sea of pink and bejewelled coats of many colours, sweet lovin’ friends and wayfaring strangers gathered to say in their own way “I Will Always Love You” to the Queen of Country.<\/p>\n

Many went to great lengths to do their “more is more” idol proud, like Natasha Kelly from Dubbo who stayed up until 4am sewing rhinestones into her Dolly-inspired outfit.<\/p>\n

\"Kelly<\/p>\n

Natasha Kelly sewed rhinestones and sequins into her family’s Dolly-inspired outfits. (ABC Western Plains: Catherine James)<\/p>\n

Labour of love<\/p>\n

Festival organiser Skye Rush said she has been blown away by the support this year.<\/p>\n

“It’s been great; locals have come out in force, and all the visitors have come out in force as well,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Our shops are being used, our accommodation is being used, [the event] fills the town with people.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Skye Rush said the event is the largest it has ever been. (ABC Western Plains: Catherine James)<\/p>\n

The festival began in 2022, run by a volunteer committee of die-hard Dolly fans.<\/p>\n

It faced funding challenges and was cancelled in 2024, before being rescued by a $150,000 state government grant and a boost from the local council.<\/p>\n

Ms Rush said the event has always been about celebrating Parton’s legacy, even before she died in August.<\/p>\n

“It’s her attitude to people, attitude to small towns, attitude to not forgetting where she’s from,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We’re a small town, and we support our locals.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Aunty Ruth said Dolly Parton had a strong connection to country. (ABC Western Plains: Catherine James)<\/p>\n

Narromine Elder Aunty Ruth said Dolly Parton represented a lot to the town.<\/p>\n

“Why wouldn’t you celebrate such a beautiful person?” she said.<\/p>\n

“To me country is country, and to be on the land; if country music’s part of the land, that’s where we are going to be.”<\/p>\n

Gathering from far and wide<\/p>\n

The town is five and a half hours’ drive north-west of Sydney, but the remote location has not stopped people from all over the country from coming to celebrate.<\/p>\n

Best-dressed judge Dolly Delicious travelled to the event from Canberra and has attended all five festivals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said Dolly Parton’s death in August has not put a dampener on celebrations.<\/p>\n

“I’m a bit sad, but I’m actually really excited to celebrate her \u2026 all her music, all her looks,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It makes me really fuzzy inside \u2014 it’s incredible.”\"Two<\/p>\n

Dolly Delicious and Juanita Peardon have been attending the event for many years. (ABC Western Plains: Lucy Thackray)<\/p>\n

Sam and Amber Bloem got married last week and sang Parton’s 1982 duet Islands in the Stream at their reception instead of a first dance.<\/p>\n

“We love Dolly, so we had to stop in,” Amber said.<\/p>\n

“[There’s] lots of pink and sparkles \u2026 fantastic music; it’ s just lovely.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sam (left) and Amber Bloem signed their two children Archie and Jack up to Parton’s Imagination Library when they were born. (ABC Western Plains: Catherine James)<\/p>\n

The Bourke locals said it was especially important to celebrate Dolly’s legacy this year, including her efforts to promote literacy in children<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Our kids were part of her Imagination Library, so they’ve been getting books sent from her every month since they’ve been born,” Amber said.<\/p>\n

“Our kids call her aunty Dolly because she sends something in the post each month,” Sam said.\"A<\/p>\n

Johnny Gilmore says he has loved the community spirit in Narromine. (ABC Western Plains: Catherine James)<\/p>\n

For Johnny Gilmore, supporting regional towns like Narromine has also been a motivator.<\/p>\n

“We always like to support country towns, and we love the music, so we always come out and try to support the town and have some fun,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I love her music; everything from the 70s and 80s is always wonderful.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An outback town has traded its 9 to 5 farm tools and workwear for a day of bedazzled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,6982,8649,490575,67678,490574,56119],"class_list":["post-922850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-country-music","tag-dolly-parton","tag-dollymine","tag-music-festival","tag-narromine","tag-regional-town"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}