Ohio
Don’t tell Jolene. Dolly Parton license plate now available in Ohio
Sales for license plates featuring Dolly Parton’s face began Monday for $25. All proceeds will go to fund her Imagination Library
Watch: Dolly Parton visits Columbus to promote Imagination Library
Dolly Parton sang a little and told a few jokes at a Tuesday luncheon in Columbus
The Columbus Dispatch
Fans of country music legend Dolly Parton can show off their pride for the singer with a new Ohio license plate.
Ohio drivers can now purchase license plates featuring Parton for $25. The money from each plate will go to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio, a charity that gives children ages 5 and younger a free book each month. The state began selling the plates Monday.
Specifically, the funds will go to the purchaser’s local county program of the library, which it says will pay for mailing a child 12 books, enough for an entire year. Ohio is the second state to offer a license plate supporting the library after Parton’s home state of Tennessee.
First lady Fran DeWine has focused on expanding the Imagination Library in Ohio since her husband Gov. Mike DeWine took office in 2019. She was inspired when she saw her grandchildren receive books through the program and by 2020, it had expanded to all of Ohio’s 88 counties.
“I’m excited to see Ohio as the second state to offer a specialty Dolly Parton license plate to support her program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, in Ohio,” Fran DeWine said in a press release. “With each purchase, $25 will go back to supporting the local program, helping to ensure the program remains available to all families in Ohio.”
The plates are available to purchase online at OPlates.com or in-person at a local deputy registrar license agency.
Gov. DeWine signed House Bill 315 which included the Parton Plates on Jan. 2. The original bill, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, received unanimous yes votes in both chambers before the license plate language was put into the larger HB 315.
Donovan Hunt is a fellow in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism’s Statehouse News Bureau.