‘Cookie of Many Colors.’ Sweet Evelyn’s in downtown Perry celebrates Dolly Parton

Sweet Evelyn’s in downtown Perry is celebrating the life and legacy of Dolly Parton with a special menu Saturday filled with “Southern charm, sparkle, and a whole lot of love.”

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which gives away books to children from birth to age 5 around the world. She founded the library in honor of her father.

The legendary singer-songwriter, actress and philanthropist died Tuesday. She was 80.

Cory Allen Jones, Sweet Evelyn’s owner and Middle Georgia’s cookie master, has fond memories of his family’s second home in Gatlinburg in Sevier County, Tenn.

Parton grew up in a one-room cabin with her parents and 11 siblings in Sevier County. Her Dollywood amusement park is in Pigeon Forge, also in Sevier County.

“Not that I have a tie to there but just knowing how much she’s done and having spent so much time there in that area, I just thought this was a loss of an icon, so let’s do something fun so that we can pretty much honor her,” Jones said. 

Because Parton always believed in giving back, Jones wanted to do the same by helping her effort to put books into the hands of children and inspire the next generation of dreamers.

“I wanted to make it where it was not interactive, but where I could use something that I enjoy, which is the baking and the storefront, to be able to do that,” Jones said.

With that goal in mind, Jones is featuring Parton-themed desserts, including a “Cookie of Many Colors.”

“I am going to do the Cookie of Many Colors instead of the Coat of Many Colors, which will be a multicolor marbled cookie,” he said.

The autobiographical song, “Coat of Many Colors,” about Parton growing up poor in Tennessee was written and recorded by Parton and released in 1971. A made-for-television drama, “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors,” was aired by NBC in 2015.

Jones also expects to offer a butterfly sweet treat. Parton adopted the butterfly as her personal emblem.

His tribute creations are expected to be teased on his Sweet Evelyn’s Facebook page, where he first announced his plans to offer the special menu in honor of Parton.

“I know just from the number of likes and shares that we’ve already experienced on the posts,  I need to plan to do a lot,” Jones said. “I advertised it as limited quantities. 

“So, it will be first come first serve. We won’t be able to take phone orders or anything like that because we do anticipate it being busy.”

A competitive baker, Jones returned to the Food Network in 2025 to compete in the “Halloween Baking Championship.” He was among four finalists who competed in the season finale.

In 2023, Jones competed in the Food Network’s “Holiday Wars.” His team won. Also in 2023, Jones opened his Perry storefront. His bakery is in Unadilla, his hometown. Jones made his debut on the Food Network in the 2022 “Christmas Cookie Challenge.”

Sweet Evelyn’s at 910 Carroll St. is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Weekday hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday.