The Day Dolly Parton Came to Alexandria: Locals Remember Her 1974 Hayfield Concert

ALEXANDRIA (Fairfax County) VA—Long before Dolly Parton became a movie star, business powerhouse and one of the most beloved entertainers in American history, she walked into a school in the Fairfax County portion of Alexandria and gave local families a day they would remember for more than half a century.

On Oct. 26, 1974, Parton performed two shows at Hayfield Secondary School in Franconia. The concerts returned to public attention this week when the Friends of the Virginia Room shared a remarkable collection of photographs⁠ taken that day by Fairfax Journal photographer Jim Tingstrum.

The images show a 28-year-old Parton commanding the stage in a sparkling, butterfly-covered outfit, signing photographs and smiling alongside concertgoers, police officers and fellow performers.

They also opened a floodgate of Alexandria memories.

“I was there! Front row seats,” Colleen Quinn wrote beneath the Virginia Room post.

Shane Shamblin remembered attending with his father when he was only 5 or 6 years old. Glenn Conner was a Hayfield student at the time and recalled the excitement surrounding the appearance, even though he did not make it to the show.

For Melina Tingstrum Barry, the photographs carry an especially personal history.

Her father was the photographer—and she was one of the young performers sharing the bill with Dolly Parton that day.

“I was about ten years old when this photo was taken in the 1970s by my father Jim Tingstrum,” Barry wrote in response to the Virginia Room post. “Thanks so much to the Virginia Room for sharing my dad’s photos.”

Barry performed country music under the name Melina Dawn. One of her father’s photographs captures the young singer standing beside Parton.

“I remember that she was nice enough to pose for this picture with me,” Barry wrote. “The look on my face makes me laugh now because the door behind us was open, and I was freezing! At the time, I didn’t know what a special memory this would become.”

She added: “I feel very fortunate to have shared this small moment with such an amazing person so many years ago.”

A Shy Seven-Year-Old—and a Very Patient Dolly

Another commenter, Mary Brown-Wery, was 7 years old when her sister, Wanda Brown Mills, tried to persuade her to pose for a photograph with Parton and Parton’s younger brother, Randy.

Mary was too shy.

Dolly, however, kept trying.

“She was waving me over and kept saying, ‘Come on, Mary, let’s take a picture,’” Brown-Wery recalled. “She was so friendly … but I was still too shy.”

It is a tiny memory from a crowded school hallway, but it echoes the warmth and generosity described by people throughout Parton’s life: a major recording artist taking the time to coax one frightened little girl into a photograph.

The picture was never taken. The memory never went away.

Dolly Was Already Having an Extraordinary Year

It would be tempting to describe the Hayfield appearance as a concert given before Dolly Parton became famous. But by October 1974, Parton was already a formidable country star—and standing at one of the most important turning points of her career.

She had spent seven years performing with Porter Wagoner, whose nationally syndicated television program introduced her to millions of viewers. Their partnership produced a long string of successful records, but Parton wanted an independent career.

Her decision to leave Wagoner inspired her to write “I Will Always Love You.” Parton’s original recording reached No. 1 on the country chart in June 1974. “Jolene,” released shortly before it, had also reached No. 1.

When Parton arrived at Hayfield on Oct. 26, another solo single, “Love Is Like a Butterfly,” was climbing the chart. It would reach No. 1 two weeks later.

A duet with Wagoner, “Please Don’t Stop Loving Me,” had topped the country chart just two weeks before the Hayfield concerts.

In other words, Alexandria caught Dolly Parton at the precise moment she was stepping out from a successful partnership and establishing herself as a singular star.

The Hayfield program also featured Billy “Crash” Craddock, Larry Daniels, the Swing Ryders, Linda Lee O’Dell, Teri Gregory, Melina Dawn and The Buccaneers.

Craddock was enjoying a major year of his own. His recording of “Rub It In” had become a No. 1 country hit and crossed into the Top 20 on Billboard’s pop chart.

At the time, Hayfield’s large gymnasium regularly attracted major entertainment and sporting events. The school hosted country singers, professional wrestlers, the Harlem Globetrotters and even exhibition appearances by professional football and basketball players.

But few of those visits would produce memories as enduring as the Saturday when Dolly came to town.

An Even Earlier Alexandria Appearance

The Hayfield performances were not Parton’s first visit to the Alexandria area.

In September 1967, she appeared with Porter Wagoner and his band at Thomas A. Edison High School on Franconia Road during a fundraiser for the Franconia Volunteer Fire Department.

Local histories differ on whether the concert occurred Sept. 16 or Sept. 17, but its place in Parton’s career is unmistakable. She was just 21 years old and had only recently joined Wagoner’s television program and touring company.

The Franconia Museum’s account of the Edison appearance⁠ says the event was organized with help from Max Mandel, a 1964 Edison graduate, Virginia Tech student and Franconia volunteer firefighter. Mandel reportedly persuaded regional promoter Carlton Haney to schedule a Porter Wagoner show in Franconia.

Although some retellings have called Edison Parton’s “first performance,” that is not accurate. According to Parton’s official biography⁠, she began singing on local radio and television in East Tennessee at 10 and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry at 13.

The Edison engagement was nevertheless an exceptionally early Alexandria appearance with Wagoner, at the very beginning of the partnership that would introduce Parton to a national audience.

Seven years later, she returned to the area transformed: no longer a little-known newcomer, but a chart-topping songwriter preparing to build a career entirely her own.

Alexandria Remembers

Parton died peacefully in Nashville on Aug. 25, 2026, at age 80, according to an announcement on her official website⁠.

Her death prompted tributes from around the world. Here in Alexandria, the Virginia Room photographs offered something intimate: a reminder of the days when a future global icon could perform inside a neighborhood school, pose in a hallway and call repeatedly to a bashful 7-year-old who could not quite summon the courage to step into the picture.

That little girl grew up. The school changed. The surrounding fields became neighborhoods, shopping centers and busy roads.

But the people who were there still remember the day Dolly Parton came to Alexandria.