“What started as just a chance to celebrate Dolly and everything she's a part of is now a chance to celebrate her legacy and help remember her.”
Allan Robinette, operator of Robinette’s Apple Haus and Winery in Grand Rapids, says a trip to Dollywood theme park in Tennessee last year inspired the corn maze plan.
“That was where we had fallen in love with Dolly and everything she stands for, the message she has of dream more, do more, and care more. And her background of coming from nothing, it really resonates with rural America, and that was something that we wanted to celebrate.”
Robinette’s is one of twenty farms in North America offering the Country Music maze, revealing the design last week with an aerial photo featuring an image of Parton, a guitar, music notes and her signature butterfly. The star recorded a video in support.
“Grab your friends, gather up the family and come out to one of my favorite farms for a little fun, laughter and a real good reason to get lost!”
After news broke of her death Tuesday, fans have asked about leaving flowers at the corn maze but Robinette asks visitors to honor her legacy another way.
“We’ve that it'd be a little bit more fitting for Dolly that any money that would have gone towards flowers be donated to Early Bird Books or Imagination Library.”
Robinette’s maze opens September 1 with a portion of ticket sales supporting Parton’s Imagination Library program locally.
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