Dolly Parton made local impact for thousands

By: Staff Posted: 6:04 PM CDT Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026

When Dolly Parton performed for 8,500 Winnipeg fans at the arena on Sept. 12, 2016 — her final local appearance — Free Press reporter Erin Lebar was there, giving the show five stars and lauding the then-70-year-old multi-instrumentalist’s onstage energy and authenticity.

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“Each story was told with as much enthusiasm as if she were telling it for the first time instead of the thousandth, every power note at the top of her register blasted through the arena with ease, and every laugh and joke and off-the-cuff riff felt unquestionably genuine,” Lebar wrote.

“It takes a lot of effort to be that good, even if it doesn’t seem like it.”

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES
Dolly Parton performs at the MTS Centre on on Sept. 12, 2016.

Speaking to Lebar in advance of the show, the legendary performer was chatty and open about everything from her personal style to her love of carbs.

“If I’m comfortable with me, other people seem to be comfortable around me,” she said. “I know I look artificial, but I’ve often said I’d like to think I’m totally real where it counts.”

Asked about her rigorous touring schedule — her 2016 tour was making 63 stops, including several at smaller rural communities in Canada — Parton said it was fuelled by her love of performing, which had not waned.

“I want to do this forever and I recognize the number of my age, and so I think, ‘Well I ain’t got as much time as I used to have,’ so I want to make the most out of every single minute … I’ll never retire, I hope I drop dead right in the middle of a song or onstage one of these days in the future.”

Parton’s most recent Winnipeg show was 10 years ago, but the country music icon made an impact in the city last year.

A custom bowl decorated by the late singer and noted philanthropist was auctioned off at Harvest Manitoba’s Empty Bowls fundraiser in October 2025.

SUPPLIED
A bowl decorated and signed by Dolly Parton was auctioned for Harvest Manitoba last year. — SUPPLIED

A bowl decorated and signed by Dolly Parton was auctioned for Harvest Manitoba last year.

The bidding for Parton’s creation — a white tiered bowl with flower and sequin embellishments from one of her costumes — started at $2,000. The auction ended up raising $1.4 million for the local food bank.

In 2013, Parton’s Imagination Library, a charitable literacy foundation that provides books to children from birth to age five, began shipping books monthly to 55 Manitoba First Nations. The program was customized to include Indigenous culture among the titles.

Parton started the charitable foundation in honour of her parents, who never learned to read or write.

— staff