The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is throwing open its doors on September 25 for Dolly 9 to 5 Day, a tribute to the late country icon that folds live music and educational programming into a single day of celebration. The museum announced the event to honor Dolly Parton's music and cultural impact following her death in August, and organizers are routing $2 from every ticket sold toward literacy programs for Cleveland kids.
According to FOX 8 News, general admission tickets that day grant access to a full slate of Dolly-themed activities: educational presentations, a Dolly edition of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's in-house game show, a community art project inspired by her song “Coat of Many Colors,” and a tribute wall where guests can leave notes. The museum's house band will perform live country music on the outdoor PNC Plaza stage, and a Dolly mixtape will play throughout the building all day, the outlet reports. Parton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 despite her roots in country music.
Where the Ticket Money Goes
Every ticket sold on Dolly 9 to 5 Day will send $2 to The Literacy Cooperative, the museum's local partner in the effort, per FOX 8. That nonprofit already supports Parton's Imagination Library book-gifting initiative in Cuyahoga County, and according to The Literacy Cooperative, it has mailed more than 2.7 million free Imagination Library books to over 90,000 local children since 2017, with more than 41,000 kids currently enrolled to receive a free, age-appropriate book every month until they turn five.
The stakes for that funding are real. Only 18% of kindergartners entering Cleveland Metropolitan School District met state readiness benchmarks in 2023, according to assessments cited by The Literacy Cooperative and reported by Cleveland Magazine, which notes that kids who fall behind early struggle significantly to catch up to third-grade reading proficiency. The plaza concert is also part of the day's programming, per WKYC's reporting cited in the dossier.
A Statewide Proclamation
The Cleveland event lands on the same day Ohio officially recognizes Parton statewide. Governor Mike DeWine announced that he and Lieutenant Governor Jim Tressel had declared September 25 as Dolly Parton Day across Ohio, a designation tied to the singer's death at age 80. The proclamation reflects just how deep the state's institutional relationship with Parton's literacy mission runs, extending well beyond a single museum event.
Ohio's Imagination Library program currently mails more than 432,000 free books to Ohio children, according to WTOL. First Lady Fran DeWine spearheaded the statewide expansion after seeing the program's impact on her own grandchildren, the station reports. Parton originally established the Imagination Library in 1995 in memory of her father, who was illiterate.
Ohio's commitment to that mission also shows up in its state parks. Hoodline has previously reported that the state has built 23 storybook trails, including a half-mile walking path at East Harbor State Park lined with child-height panels featuring Blue Sky White Stars.
A Reluctant Rock Star's Legacy
Parton's path to Cleveland's most famous music museum wasn't a straight line. When she was first nominated to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, she initially declined, saying her background was in country music rather than rock, according to American Songwriter. She was inducted anyway, as part of a class that marked the first time six female acts were inducted in the same year, and later leaned into rock with Rockstar.
Beyond Cleveland, lawmakers in states including Tennessee and Massachusetts have introduced bills to designate September 25 as statewide “9 to 5 Day” in honor of Parton's artistic and philanthropic legacy, according to WPLN News — a nod to her 1980 hit song of the same name. The Imagination Library itself, founded in Sevier County, Tennessee in 1995, has distributed more than 300 million free books to preschoolers across five nations, as Hoodline has reported.
For the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the tribute also places the museum in the broader context of Northeast Ohio's economy. On September 25, at least, that draw will come with a literacy mission attached — and $2 from every ticket headed straight to Cleveland's youngest readers.
