Over 1,000 Dolly Parton impersonators took part in ‘Dolly Day’ in Kerry to set a new world record and raise money for local charities. 

The town of Listowel, Co Kerry, welcomed 1,137 Dolly Parton impersonators at ‘Dolly Day’ yesterday. 

The local GAA pitch welcomed lookalikes covered in rhinestones and sporting cowboy boots with the goal of setting a new world record for most Dolly Parton impersonators in one town. 

‘Dolly Day’ organiser Cora O’Brien told Newstalk 1,137 people took part in the event – which will hopefully be enough to meet the Guinness World Records’ requirements. 

“We just have to tally up everything and send our evidence over,” she said. “We will be waiting up to 12 weeks for them to process that.” 

Ms O’Brien said ‘Dolly Day’ was “a bit stressful” as an organiser – but also “emotional and overwhelming to see the amount of Dollies that turned up”. 

Participant Máire Logue told Newstalk said ‘Dolly Day’ was “absolutely fantastic” to see the variety of people participating. 

“It was a huge event,” she said. “It was just so wonderful to see older people, younger people, dogs, children, all dressed up. 

“It was just a real town community event, which was lovely.” 

Dolly Day Listowel. Congrats to all the organisers, it was a hoot. pic.twitter.com/VjI5fdeBbi

— Damien Ahern (@damienahern) June 25, 2023

Along with setting a new world record, the organisers also aimed to raise money for the charities Kerry Hospice and Comfort for Chemo Kerry. 

Ms O’Brien said the charities are “very close to the hearts” of many people who took part. 

“We have all been impacted by either having a loved one go through the chemotherapy process or through the end-of-life support that the hospice offers,” she said. 

“People were able to just forget about that and have fun - there were lots of people there that are out the other side of chemotherapy now.” 

Several people who were helped by the charities spoke at the event, which Ms O’Brien said offered “an emotional but feelgood factor”. 

The final amount raised has not yet been tallied, but the organisers are due to hold an auction on June 28th for six tickets to Dollywood Theme Park and two tickets to access Dolly Parton’s tour bus. 

The prizes were given by Dollywood President Eugene Naughton, who attended the event yesterday.