All dolled up: Denverites pay tribute to Dolly Parton
DENVER — Cowboy boots clicked down Colfax Avenue toward Lost Lake Lounge Thursday evening in honor of a woman whose legendary music and philanthropy was matched only by her style. Dolly Parton's death in late August led to an outpouring of tributes around the world, including FOREVER DOLLY, a local Parton-themed party.
Weeks after her death, fans sported their best Parton-inspired looks and danced the night away to her biggest hits.
DJ Rockstar Aaron, host and curator of the event, saw Parton in concert twice. He sat front row for her performance at the Denver Convention Center in 2005.
“She was walking along the front of the stage waving, and she stopped when she saw me, pointed, and said, ‘Is that your real hair?’” Aaron said, who sports a sky-high mohawk. “And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And she said, ‘I thought you had a cone on your head.’”
The local DJ saw Parton one other time, at the Paramount Theater in 2002, and the diversity of the crowd at Parton’s concerts always stood out to him. A shared love for Parton’s music unified people who would likely never be in the same room together, he said.
That’s the energy he hoped to bring to Thursday’s event, another installation in his series of artist-themed parties (he recently did a Charli xcx party.) Aaron curated a playlist spanning all of her musical genres. His favorite song being “Potential New Boyfriend” from the “disco-Dolly” era.
“There's mohawks, metalheads, cowboys, cowgirls, little kids, all types at a Dolly show,” Aaron said. “That’s the way it’s always been.”
Crystal Salazar, whose bicep features a “Dolly” tattoo and is known as “Dolly’s biggest fan” by her friends, attended the event with her wife, Michaela Fowler. Salazar met Parton several years ago while fundraising for Parton’s Imagination Library, a nonprofit providing books to millions of children around the world.
“She was as sweet as you could ever imagine,” Salazar said.
Salazar discovered Parton at age 6 through the 1980 film, “9 to 5,” going on to work for the Imagination Library because of how inspiring she found Parton’s relationship to community. She hopes Parton’s legacy encourages people to be kind and accepting to one another
“I think everybody should take the time to learn about her and her story,” Fowler said.
“Rags to rhinestones,” she added with a laugh.
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