Dollywood's I Will Always Love You Festival Closes Out a Spring Season

Just up the road in Pigeon Forge, Dolly's park is running the final days of its I Will Always Love You Festival — a music-and-storytelling celebration built around Dolly Parton's signature song, her catalog, and the songwriters who have shaped the Smokies' musical DNA. The festival runs through April 12 and features additional shows from gospel, country, and bluegrass artists including T. Graham Brown, John Berry, and The Collingsworth Family.

What makes the festival feel distinct is how Dolly herself frames it — as a tribute not just to a song but to the idea that songwriting is its own Appalachian craft. The park's open-air stages host storytelling sets where songwriters talk through how a lyric arrived, and the park itself is dressed for spring — banners, blooming gardens, limited-edition merchandise that Dolly fans have been known to fly in to buy.

If you're going: Saturday is the busiest day; pick a weekday for shorter lines. Dollywood ticket packages include parking. Gatlinburg hotels are a 20-minute drive and cheaper than the resort options around the park.

Sources: Dollywood festivals, Bandsintown Dollywood schedule