Dollywood is a theme park jointly owned by Herschend and Dolly Parton Productions, the entertainment company of country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. It is located in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains. Opened in 1986, the park has approximately 4 million guests in a typical season from mid-March to the Christmas holidays. It is the biggest ticketed tourist attraction in Tennessee.