For the past four months, Lowell farm owner Josh Sickinger and his staff have worked “9 to 5” to bring a three-acre-large likeness of singer, songwriter and philanthropist Dolly Parton to life in the cornfields of Harvest Tyme Family Farm.
This Saturday, fans will get a chance to get lost in the late country icon’s smiling portrait at 17904 Grant Street in Lowell for the farm’s opening weekend. Harvest Tyme’s Fall Festival will be open select hours Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Sept.19th through Oct. 25th.
When Sickinger began the corn maze growing process this past Memorial Day weekend, he had no idea that his unconventional mural would eventually serve as a memorial following Parton’s death at age 80 on Aug. 25.
“Like the rest of America, it was definitely heartbreaking,” Sickinger, owner of Harvest Tyme, said. “We lost a true legend. I think that in her passing, what was eye opening to me is that when people were memorializing her, it really wasn’t just her country music that they were talking about. It was everything she did in her life. As more stories about her come out, you realize the real impact one person had on so many people. It wasn’t just her being famous because she’s a country singer.”
The corn mazes that Dolly Parton and her organization promoted in their “Get Lost with Dolly” campaign earlier this spring have now taken on new meaning following her death. Today, Harvest Tyme is one of 20 farms in North America that joined the campaign in a fundraising effort to benefit her nonprofit organization, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
“She even recorded promo videos for it,” Sickinger recalled when heard about the campaign through an agricultural organization. “She was definitely a part of it.”
All of the participating farms spanning 15 states and two provinces in Canada will donate a portion of their ticket sales to the Imagination Library, which began its mission for children’s literacy in 1995.
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The funds will put books in mailboxes across the world, in which children from birth to age five receive a book every month. So far more than 300 million books have been given out to kids from birth to age 5 worldwide at no cost to families.
Last Year, Imagination Library faced funding challenges in Indiana following Gov. Mike Braun’s elimination of the state’s 50 percent match — or about $6 million over two years — to Imagination Library programs from the biennial budget in 2025.
However, the organization continues to operate in all 92 counties in Indiana following efforts from supporters, including First Lady Maureen Braun, who announced that she met 90% of her fundraising goal through private donors in April. Braun volunteered his wife to stump for funding after the funding cut.
Like Parton, Sickinger’s family had its beginnings in farming, which ultimately led to the creation of the seasonal farm destination that is Harvest Tyme today.
“The land has been in my family for generations,” Sickinger said. “They had farmed it for a long time. … Eighteen years ago, I went out there after I graduated college and I just started growing some pumpkins and then I realized, ‘Well, I’ve got to sell these pumpkins.’ So we started very small. It was just a big pumpkin patch. Now 18 years later, I’m always trying to explore new and different things. Whether it’s different events or opening for other seasons.”
Parton grew up in a two-room cabin with 12 brothers and sisters in East Tennessee, and her parents were sharecroppers until they were able to buy their own small farm. Parton’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, said he felt his aunt kept her roots as a farmer close, even when she reached international fame.
“Dolly was a farmer, just like her daddy; he farmed the soil, she farmed songs and happiness,” Seaver said in the announcement of Parton’s death.
Over her career, Parton released 79 albums and more than 200 singles, starred in her own TV show, authored eight books and raised funds for several causes, including lowering dropout rates and offering college scholarships in her home county, medical research at Vanderbilt University, disaster relief, wildlife conservation efforts, and music education programs.
Creating a mural from a cornfield is not something someone plays by ear, but is a complex, gradual process. Around Memorial Day, they planted corn in a grid pattern north to south, east to west, Sickinger said.
Once the corn starts germinating, they used a computerized grid pattern to determine where to remove the corn to create the design. Currently the corn stands around 7 feet tall.
In previous years, Harvest Tyme has created other corn maze designs inspired by pop culture, including a Sesame Street tribute, Charlie Brown, country superstar Reba McEntire, and Wizard of Oz characters. Other attractions at the farm include a petting zoo, a pumpkin glow walk, playgrounds, kiddie rides, hayrides, games and more.
The latest addition to this year’s festivities include giant 3-D art sets for photo opportunities, like a giant s’more roasting over a campfire, huge pumpkins and ghosts taking selfies.
“We have about 10 new photo ops that are coming that are pretty encompassing, large and custom fiberglass designs,” Sickinger said. “We’ve spent a lot of time developing them from the molds that we just started from some ideas, then to actually having the models made and then the fiberglass made. It’s been a six-month journey to make them happen, so we’re pretty excited about it, and it turned out great.”
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Sickinger said the sets began when Harvest Tyme had a special event a few years ago where they had custom fiberglass dinosaurs crafted. Because of its popularity, they created a giant unicorn attraction and a construction experience in following years. He said they now rent out their fiberglass installations to farms and organizations across the country via their branching company, Imagination Time Events.
“The dinosaurs are going to Long Island, New York in two weeks, and then they’re going down to Texas, so they get a lot of miles on them,” he said.
To learn more about Harvest Tyme, visit www.harvesttymefun.com or call 219-440-2386 during business hours. Anyone seeking to directly donate to Parton’s organization can do so at imaginationlibrary.com.
Anna Ortiz is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.