{"id":470253,"date":"2026-09-20T20:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T20:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470253\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T20:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T20:32:12","slug":"california-establishes-sept-25-as-dolly-parton-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470253\/","title":{"rendered":"California establishes Sept. 25 as Dolly Parton Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dolly<\/p>\n

Dolly Parton performs during her Dolly European World Tour at Arco Arena on Aug. 4, 2008.<\/p>\n

HECTOR AMEZCUA<\/p>\n

Sacramento Bee file<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring California governors to annually proclaim Sept. 25 as Dolly Parton Day, honoring the late country music star\u2019s contributions to music, literacy and philanthropy.<\/p>\n

The bill, Senate Bill 931, authored by Sens. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, and John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, made the annual proclamation a requirement under state law. Sept. 25 \u2014 or 9-2-5 \u2014 was selected in honor of Parton\u2019s song \u201c9 to 5.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parton, known as the \u201cQueen of Country,\u201d was one of the most successful country music performers in history, selling more than 100 million records worldwide. During her six-decade career, she earned 25 No. 1 hits, the most by any female country artist.<\/p>\n

Her song \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d topped the charts in 1974 and 1982 before Whitney Houston later recorded a version that became a global hit.<\/p>\n

Parton died Aug. 25 in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 80, leaving behind a legacy spanning music, film and philanthropy.<\/p>\n

Her charitable work included the Imagination Library, which she created to support early literacy and encourage a love of reading. The program has distributed more than 300 million books to children worldwide, including in California.<\/p>\n

California previously partnered with the Dollywood Foundation to expand the Imagination Library statewide. The program reached all 58 counties and made California the first state to offer a fully bilingual English-Spanish book option, according to the legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cDolly Parton sparkled on every stage she ever stood on, but her brightest sparkle was the literacy legacy she built through the Imagination Library,\u201d Grove said.<\/p>\n

Grove also cited the bipartisan effort that expanded the Imagination Library in California and established the annual day of recognition.<\/p>\n

Laird said Parton\u2019s impact went beyond music.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the Imagination Library, she put books into the hands of millions of children, and throughout her life she led with kindness, acceptance, and a belief that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Laird also noted Parton\u2019s connections to California\u2019s Central Coast, where she performed and spent time over the years.<\/p>\n

Parton also supported numerous humanitarian causes, including COVID-19 vaccine development, disaster relief in Tennessee, LGBTQ advocacy and efforts addressing HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Nicole Buss<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Nicole Buss is The Sacramento Bee\u2019s Roseville\/Placer County watchdog reporter. She previously covered Placer County at Gold Country Media. Buss grew up in Lincoln and is a graduate of Sierra College and Arizona State University.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dolly Parton performs during her Dolly European World Tour at Arco Arena on Aug. 4, 2008. HECTOR AMEZCUA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-470253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}