DOLLY PARTON LAUNCHES 2011 BETTER DAY WORLD TOUR WITH KNOXVILLE CONCERT TO BENEFIT HER DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn.—Entertainment legend Dolly Parton will launch her 2011 Better Day World Tour on July 17 in Knoxville, Tenn., with concert proceeds benefiting her not-for-profit Dollywood Foundation.

“ It’s been a long time since I played Knoxville, so I am thrilled to launch my Better Day tour right here on the banks of the Tennessee River,” Parton said.  “Since this tour is all about hope and looking forward to better days, I thought it would only be right to donate the proceeds of this concert to my Imagination Library.  It will be a special night and I am really looking forward to it.”

Tickets go on sale April 1 at knoxvilletickets.com or via phone at (865) 656-4444 or (877) 995-9961.  The concert will take place at the University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena at 8 p.m.  Ticket prices are $59.50, $49.50 and $39.50.

Parton’s Dollywood Foundation administers the entertainer’s Imagination Library program.  Proceeds from the concert will provide necessary funds to cover the program’s overhead expenses.  As a result, participating communities must only pay for postage and purchase the books they provide to children enrolled in their programs. 

The Imagination Library was launched in 1996 for preschool-age children in Parton’s native Sevier County, Tenn.  To promote the importance of reading to children in the first five years of life, each child residing in Sevier County received one book each month from birth until the age of five.  The 60-volume collection is selected by a committee comprised of individuals from education, child development, academia and early childhood literacy.

The Imagination Library has expanded and now serves 1,200 communities in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.  To date, the Imagination Library has distributed 33 million books.  Recently, through its work with the Scottish Government and Scottish Book Trust, the Dollywood Foundation recently announced that the Imagination Library will now deliver books to 3,341 foster care children in Scotland.

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For more information, please contact David Dotson, President of the Dollywood Foundation at (865) 428-9604.