From 5-8 p.m. in downtown Springfield, visitors can find several businesses and restaurants offering special tie-ins to the theme.
Each February, UWCCMC has its Nash Bash fundraiser that sells out and supports the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which will go on the same evening as First Friday. The organization wanted to extend that fun and found Visit Greater Springfield eager to take the theme to a wider audience.
“We’re super proud of our partnership for a decade and we were happy Visit Greater Springfield also loved our literacy theme,” said Natalie Driscoll, senior director of community impact for UWCCMC.
Highlights of Love Literacy will include drink and menu items with reading, literacy and Dolly Parton themes at participating restaurants. Reimagine Gifts & More, located at 25 N. Fountain Ave., will have a standup cutout of Dolly that visitors can get photo ops with, along with one of Taylor Swift also.
Some businesses will offer free books for kids and registration forms to sign up for the Imagination Library.
Under the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, participating children up to 5 years old receive a book per month. Driscoll said in the decade of the partnership, more than 14,699 Clark County kids have received more than 379,412 books, with 4,327 kids currently receiving them.
While the state funds cover half of the cost of the program, events like Nash Bash and individual sponsorships help keep it free. An individual sponsorship runs $30 a year or $150 for five years.
“Supporting literacy, learning and families spending time together is what this program helps build,” Driscoll said.
UWCCMC may have future events tying into the 10th anniversary of the Imagination Library partnership. For more information on the program or how to sponsor, go to uwccmc.org.
For more information on First Friday or Visit Greater Springfield events and updates, go to visitgreaterspringfield.com.
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