An incomplete 9-2-5 Dolly Day lineup

Seekers of proof for intelligent design will find it this week as the Gregorian calendar, in the year of Dolly Parton’s death, delivers the date of 9-25 on a Friday. 

If laughter through tears is your favorite emotion, you’ve got plenty of opportunities to mourn our universal icon while celebrating that we got to have her on this planet with us for 80 wonderful years.

And of course, the options to honor the country music queen’s sparkling legacy all raise money and awareness for the Imagination Library, Parton’s program that mails free books to children from birth to age 5 to promote literacy and a love of reading.

A woefully incomplete rundown of Central Arkansas event offerings includes:

• A bingo fundraiser at Bloom Salon in Little Rock, with proceeds going to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The games begin at 6 p.m. Friday, and each bingo card is $25.
• Music and a Dolly look-alike contest are slated for the River Bottom Winery in Roland. Doors open at 5 p.m. Friday, and close at 9 p.m. The $20 entry fee goes to the Imagination Library of Pulaski County.
• Even the squares at Little Rock Rotary are getting in on it! This week’s Tuesday lunch speaker is Sara Drew, director of communications, marketing & development for the Arkansas Imagination Library.
• Memorialize Parton’s secret proclivity for ink at Lucky Bella Tattoos in Maumelle, where the artists are happy to mark you with a lifelong signifier of you undying love for Dolly. The shop is giving away Dolly-themed gift bags to the first 10 clients and offering a bunch of Dolly-themed flash tattoos. A portion of the sales go to the Imagination Library, of course.
• The University of Central Arkansas is partnering with the Faulkner County Library on Friday, aka Give Like Dolly Day. Community leaders will read to children as part of a “Dolly’s Reading Roundabout,” from noon to 4 p.m. Friday at the library. “Remembering Dolly!” will be held that evening at The Max event venue on Spencer Street. Adults are invited to this free party with food and music. RSVP here.