Dolly Parton will serve as Ambassador for Smoky Mountains National Park Anniversary

Sevier County native Dolly Parton has signed on to be the 75th anniversary ambassador for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Ann Froschauer, who is in charge of coordinating the 75th anniversary for the Park, discussed plans Tuesday afternoon at a Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau meeting. The Bureau was one of the first big donors to support the anniversary, giving $10,075 to the Park.

Parton has written a song about the Smokies for the event and will donate rights to the song for the first year to Friends of the Smokies. It will not be a promotion for Dollywood, but will highlight the love the entertainer has for the mountains she has known since a girl, Froschauer said.

The actual birthday of the Park will be June 15 and three premier 75th events are planned that weekend in each developed section of the park.

The first is a local event. On June 15 in Cades Cove, which is part of Blount County, Maryville native U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander will play the piano with the Knoxville Symphony. He did this at the 50th anniversary of the Park.

"He suggested he would like to be involved again," Froschauer said.

Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson wants to make this a carpool-only event and Townsend may get the chance to provide parking for those going to the Cove.

On June 14 the anniversary celebration will be at Park Headquarters in Gatlinburg. The event will highlight the history of the Park infrastructure and the Civilian Conservation Corps' accomplishments that are still evident throughout the Park.

Then on June 15, Oconaluftee outside Cherokee, N.C., will be the third 75th celebration site. There will be a ground breaking ceremony for a new visitors center there. The current visitors center was not intended as a visitors center and has many deficiencies, including size and noncompliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The park was dedicated Sept. 2, 1940, at Newfound Gap, where Tennessee and North Carolina join, by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Park has historic black and white pictures of that day showing Roosevelt, wife, Eleanor, others in attendance and the classic cars from that era.

Information courtesy of The Daily Times