KEN BURNS AND MARTY STUART KICK OFF HONOR YOUR HOMETOWN CAMPAIGN
Ken Burns and Marty Stuart Kick Off Honor Your Hometown Campaign
Legendary Entertainers, Cultural & Historic Institutions Join Mayors & Leaders from All 50 States to Launch Unprecedented Campaign
Celebratory Hometown Videos Include Garth Brooks, Jon Batiste, Dolly Parton, Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Kristin Chenoweth, Miranda Lambert and the late General Colin Powell
Today, renowned documentary producer Ken Burns, and his friend, Country Music Hall of Famer Marty Stuart, launch the Honor Your Hometown campaign to encourage Americans to celebrate their hometowns and reflect on their shared experiences and common values. The Honor Your Hometown campaign kicks off with the release of more than 150 powerful and poignant videos from some of America’s most revered institutions and beloved individuals, such as the late General Colin Powell, sharing personal, touching stories of their hometowns and the role they play in bringing us together as Americans. For more information and links to the inaugural Honor Your Hometown videos, please visit www.honoryourhometown.com.
Watch Marty Stuart’s Video Honoring His Hometown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8E9TZvXjhU
Watch Ken Burns' interview on Today: https://www.today.com/video/ken-burns-says-new-honor-your-hometown-campaign-will-bring-people-together-124630085618
Read Ken Burns & Marty Stuart's Op-Ed in USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/10/26/dolly-parton-ken-burns-celebrating-hometowns/6170807001/
America’s most legendary entertainers, including Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, Jon Batiste, Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert, and Kristin Chenoweth - along with luminaries from the nation’s most important cultural, community service and veterans’ institutions - join mayors and leaders from all 50 states today to launch Honor Your Hometown. This unprecedented nationwide campaign celebrating America’s beloved cities and towns runs Tuesday, October 26th through Thanksgiving Day.
“This is exactly the kind of initiative we need right now,” says filmmaker Ken Burns. “A celebration of where we come from and a reminder that we should be hopeful because our common bonds and values outweigh whatever differences we might have.” Marty Stuart adds: “Although it feels like we have honorary days for seemingly everything in America, there is no national tradition for honoring our hometowns. It’s a void that needs to be filled. Our hometowns are where we bond as neighbors, friends, and Americans. They are what bring us together.”
Key highlights include:
- Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood submit a touching joint tribute, “Let’s focus on the things that tie us, not divide us.”
- Dolly Parton sings a verse of her song, “My Tennessee Mountain Home.”
- The late General Colin Powell, who was the first to volunteer to submit a video, opens by saying, “I didn’t have a ‘hometown’-- but I had a home street - Kelly Street in the Bronx.”
- Astronaut Mark T. Vande Hei performs backward summersaults from his “hometown” on the International Space Station.
- The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. expresses gratitude that its enduring beacon of hope is supported by hometowns across the country.
- Gary Sinise salutes America’s veterans and first responders.
- Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 100th anniversary tribute at Arlington National Cemetery.
- Special Olympics participant and Ironman Chris Nikic describes his hometown and the different cities in which he's competed.
- Mayors and Leaders from all 50 states honor their hometowns.
In addition to the many celebrities, mayors, cultural and historical institutions which have joined the Honor Your Hometown campaign, the nation’s leading community service and veterans’ organizations, including The American Legion, Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, VFW, The American Red Cross, Make-A-Wish Foundation, World Central Kitchen, Special Olympics, and the YMCA of USA - with their combined 24,000 offices – are all a part of this important celebration of America’s hometowns.
Current List of Participants:
Entertainers & Prominent People: Ken Burns, Marty Stuart, Connie Smith, Dolly Parton, General Colin Powell, Jon Batiste, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, Kristin Chenoweth, Loretta Lynn, Former First Daughter Luci Baines Johnson, Rosanne Cash, Miranda Lambert, Kathy Mattea, Sheryl Crow, Bill Danoff, Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Mark T. Vande Hei, David S. Ferriero, Lonnie Bunch.
Art & Cultural Institutions: The Grand Ole Opry, Sun Records, Mountain Stage, Elvis Presley’s Graceland,Metropolitan Museum of Art, Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, Ford’s Theatre, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame, Santa Claus, Wolf Trap, Politics and Prose, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (Woodstock).
Museum & Historic Sites: Trust for the National Mall, The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., Washington Library, Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier House, Lincoln Cottage, Lincoln Home, Joe Wiegand (Teddy Roosevelt Impersonator), Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum, Truman Library Institute, (Clifton Daniel, Truman’s grandson), Mary Jean Eisenhower Honors Abilene, Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, Gerald R. Ford Library, Clinton Foundation, Rutherford B. Hayes Library, White House Historical Association, Smithsonian National History Museum, Library of Congress, Arlington National Cemetery, Historic Jamestown, The Minutemen, Concord, Massachusetts, Woody Guthrie Center, Coney Island Hot Dog Stand, The Fred Rogers Center, The Andy Griffith Playhouse, Star Spangled Banner Flag House, National Cowgirl Museum, Baseball Hall of Fame, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Pro-Rodeo Hall of Fame & Museum of the American Cowboy, Yogi Berra Museum, Pro Football Hall of Fame, The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, B&O Railroad Museum, Henry Ford Museum, Museum of Broadway.
Community Service, Veterans Organizations and Universities: Gary Sinise Foundation, Superintendent Rear Admiral Bill Kelly, Coast Guard Academy, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, YMCA of USA, Special Olympics, Operation Homefront, The American Red Cross, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Points of Light, Commerce Boulevard Christian Church, University of Virginia, American University, Mississippi State University, Oglala Lakota College, University of Missouri Kinder Institute.
Mayors: Former Mayor Clarence E. Anthony, CEO & Executive Director of National League of Cities, South Bay, FL; Former Mayor Kathy Maness, President of National League of Cities, Lexington, SC; Mayor Kerry Underwood, Tuscumbia, AL; Mayor John Giles, Mesa, AZ; Mayor Stephanie Orman, Bentonville, AR; Mayor Todd Gloria, San Diego, CA; Mayor Michael Hancock, Denver, CO; Mayor David Martin, Stamford, CT; Mayor Robin Christiansen, Dover, DE; Mayor Mike Purzycki, Wilmington, DE; Mayor Teresa Heitmann, Naples, FL; Mayor Tracy Upchurch, St. Augustine, FL; Mayor Jane Castor, Tampa, FL; Mayor Rick Blangiardi, Honolulu, HI; Mayor Derek Kawakami, Kauai, HI; Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago, IL; Mayor Jim Brainard, Carmel, IN; Mayor Joe Hogsett, Indianapolis, IN; Mayor Frank Cownie, Des Moines, IA; Mayor Jim Heavens, Dyersville, IA; Mayor Bruce Teague, Iowa City, IA; Mayor Brandon Whipple, Wichita, KS; Mayor Dick Heaton, Bardstown, KY; Mayor Greg Fischer, Louisville, KY; Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, Baton Rouge, LA; Mayor Gavin Buckley, Annapolis, MD; Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore, MD; Mayor Kim Janey, Boston, MA; Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, Grand Rapids, MI; Mayor Margaret Doud, Mackinac Island, MI; Mayor Elizabeth Kautz, Burnsville, MN, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Jackson, MS; Mayor James A. Young, Philadelphia, MS; Mayor Quinton Lucas, Kansas City, MO; Mayor Tishaura Jones, St. Louis, MO; Mayor Carolyn Goodman, Las Vegas, NV; Mayor Hillary Schieve, Reno, NV; Mayor Chris Bollwage, Elizabeth, NJ; Mayor Kevin Kane, Freehold Borough, NJ; Mayor Alan Webber, Santa Fe, NM; Mayor Robert Restaino, Niagara Falls, NY; Mayor Pam Hemminger, Chapel Hill, NC; Mayor Ron Niland, Mount Airy, NC; Mayor Steve Bakken, Bismarck, ND; Mayor Dan Horrigan, Akron, OH; Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, Toledo, OH; Mayor Pam Conine, Yellow Springs, OH; Mayor David Holt, Oklahoma City, OK; Mayor G.T. Bynum, Tulsa, OK; Mayor Ted Wheeler, Portland, OR; Mayor Jim Kenney, Philadelphia, PA; Mayor Don Grebien, Pawtucket, RI; Mayor Paul TenHaken, Sioux Falls, SD; Mayor John Cooper, Nashville, TN; Mayor Eric Johnson, Dallas, TX; Mayor Ron Nirenberg, San Antonio, TX; Mayor Dillon Meek, Waco, TX; Mayor Bobby Dyer, Virginia Beach, VA; Mayor Doug Pons, Williamsburg, VA; Mayor Jenny Durkan, Seattle, WA; Mayor Amy Goodwin, Charleston, WV; Former Mayor Rich Hively, President Historic Commission, Nitro, WV; Mayor Patrick Collins, Cheyenne, WY.
Honor Your Hometown, a non-partisan, non-profit initiative, encourages all Americans to join this important effort to celebrate hometowns across the nation to help foster greater national unity. Anyone interested in participating is welcome to post short videos on their individual social media platforms, highlighting what they love most about their hometown, using the campaign hashtag: #HonorYourHometown. For more information and links to the inaugural Honor Your Hometown videos, please visit www.honoryourhometown.com.
Media Contact:
Stephanie Lowet
For media inquiries regarding Marty Stuart:
Mary Moyer