As the Dolly Parton Festival returned to Narromine, NSW, for it’s fifth year just two months after her death – 1,500 of her biggest Australian fans brought out all the rhinestones and glitter to honour the country legend.
“Dolly was such a charistmatic, witty person and I think she would’ve loved to have been at this year’ festival,” Nikolaas Kostraby, a volunteer who helps organise the annual festival tells Woman’s Day.
“I think she would have been so impressed that a regional community is not only celebrating her and her music, it’s also uplifting a small community.”
Special tributes
In true Dolly fashion, locals and tourists from around Australia arrived in Narromine – which was affectionately renamed ‘Dollymine’ – for the October long weekend for a street party, complete with flashy sequin-covered frocks, big blonde wigs and even bigger fake boobs.
“To have the main street flooded with so many people celebrating an icon was really special,” Nikolaas tells.
“But there was a little bit of sadness that came across due to her passing, however, everyone there was celebrating not only the country music legend, but also all the philanthropic work she did as well.”
The main event everyone was thrilled to see was the Dolly Parton best-dressed competition, which Nikolaas, who won the contest in 2023 dressed in drag as the 9 to 5 singer, got to judge this year alongside local MP Dugald Saunders and Citizen of the Year Margie Collins.
“We had about 25 people register to be in the best dressed competition this year and it was fantastic to see the variety of things people did,” the 33-year-old from Canberra, who goes by Dolly Delicious when dressed up as Dolly, says.
“A lot of people sewed their own outfits, and it was really impressive to witness just how much work went into everything. I reckon Dolly would defintely be impressed by the amount of effort everyone put into their outfits.”
When asked how long it takes to become Dolly Delicious, Nikolaas admits it takes about four hours, and a lot of help from his loved ones.
“Dressing up as Dolly is my special tribute to her, and I only do it once a year – she always said it costs a lot to look this cheap, but I’ll say it costs a lot to be a woman from the wig to the makeup, the dress and heels,” Nikolaas explains.
“I’m very lucky my sister gave me a 22-step plan of how to do my makeup, and I’m grateful for my mum who sews the outfits because I’m a six-foot man and it’s hard to find outfits that fit me!”
But for Nikolaas, the true highlight of this year’s festival was the touching way Narromine paid tribute to Dolly, who was 80-years-old when she died on August 25 from a “brief battle” with cancer.
“This year, everyone came together to sing an a-capella version of ‘I Will Always Love You’,” he says of the emotional tribute.
‘More is more’
While the Dolly Parton Festival is done and dusted for another year, Nikolaas reveals the rest of the volunteer commitee affectionaltely known as the ‘Dolly Vollies’ are already organising next year’s event, which will be held on October 9, 2027.
And just like Dolly and her “more is more” attitude, they’re promising the next festival will be bigger and sparklier.
“A lot of people think it’s easy to run a festival, but it’s taken us five years to really understand how it works for the community, so next year we’re going to make the night festival really seamless with more artists, more tributes and more Dolly,” Nikolaas reveals.
“I’m thinking about getting the local library involved because she did so much with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and the local nursing home does a big Dolly display… so who knows, I might have to dress up and visit everyone there to extend the festival to other parts of the community.
When asked if he has any tips or tricks for next year’s best-dressed contest, Nikolaas says it’s simple – bold is better.
“I encourage anyone that’s going into the best-dressed competition next year to be really creative and innovative,” Nikolaas says. “Bigger hair and bigger breastplates are always going to be a winner!”
