This year’s Thanksgiving Day game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders will have at least one upside if the Cowboys don’t come away with a win.
If you’re the kind of Cowboys fan who dreads having to endure a possible loss on Thanksgiving, at least you’ll have something to look forward to on the field this year.
The team announced on Monday that this year’s annual Thanksgiving Day game will feature a halftime performance by country music legend Dolly Parton. The game will be played on Thursday, Nov. 23, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington against the Washington Commanders.
If you can’t afford to go to the game (and who can these days? Have you seen the price just to park near the stadium?), you’ll be able to watch Parton’s performance on TV. The game starts at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised on KTVT CBS11 and broadcast on 105.3 FM The FAN, according to the team’s schedule.
Parton announced her performance with a video on her Instagram page. The video showed members of the Cowboys’ cheerleading squad bejeweling footballs and a special Parton Cowboys jersey because Parton made bejeweling cool long before we even had a term for it. Then Parton pops up on the screen and exclaims, “I’ll see y’all on Thanksgiving!” before ringing a bejeweled Salvation Army bell.
Parton’s halftime show isn’t just an excuse to have a country music legend in one of the biggest performance venues in the state. It’s also a way to help celebrate the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Kickoff, which marks the start of the nonprofit charity’s holiday fundraiser. It’s the familiar scenario in which volunteers solicit donations outside crowded stores with the sound of a bell ringing and those iconic red buckets. The Salvation Army’s annual Red Kettle Campaign has been a holiday tradition for 133 years and has helped raise millions of dollars for families and people in need around the year.
Parton’s performance on Thanksgiving Day will mark her second appearance in Dallas-Fort Worth this year. The 11-time Grammy winner and singer of hits like “9 to 5,” “Jolene” and “Coat of Many Colors” hosted the Country Music Awards (CMAs) in May at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco with fellow country superstar Garth Brooks.
She also made a surprise appearance at her pop-up store at The Star in Frisco just before the CMAs where she talked with members of the press and fans who were lucky enough to be there. One of the most memorable moments from the event was when she asked travel blogger Jessica Serna if she was a stripper, based on Serna’s last-minute, Western-themed outfit. Of course, when Parton asks you if you’re a stripper, it’s always a compliment.
The halftime show at the Cowboys’ annual Thanksgiving game is also a storied holiday tradition. Past Thanksgiving Day halftime shows have seen performances by Luke Combs, Meghan Trainor, Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Pitbull, Selena Gomez, Enrique Iglesias, the Jonas Brothers, Kelly Clarkson, Destiny’s Child and Randy Travis, according to Cowboys archives.
In 2001, the band Creed performed at halftime, and unlike the effect the band’s music has been having on the Texas Rangers’ current playoff run, it didn’t help the Cowboys. They lost to the Denver Broncos by the heartbreaking score of 26-24.
This year’s game between the Cowboys and Commanders is shaping up to be another nail biter. According to Vegas Insider, the odds between Dallas and Washington are as thin as the slices of turkey your Dad dishes out with the family’s electric carving knife. The Cowboys have been having a better-than-average season. So far, they rank second in the NFC East behind the Philadelphia Eagles, but we’ve been down this road before when hopes are high. For the past few seasons, those hopes had nowhere to go but down and they usually headed in that direction.
That’s why Thanksgiving has consolations like copious amounts of food and booze to help fill the void. Now that we know Dolly Parton will be part of the holiday, maybe things won’t be so bad this year — even if everything has gone to hell by halftime.
