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PIGEON FORGE — The next installment of family friendly reality show “18 Kids and Counting” (9 p.m. Tuesday, July 21, TLC) will chronicle the Duggar family’s adventure here and their secretive meeting with Dolly Parton.

Of course, how secretive can

it be when there

are a couple of

dozen people in the room (18 of them being the Duggars), complete with a camera crew?

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of Arkansas have 18 children, all through natural means. Their oldest son is married; he and his wife are expecting a baby later this year. The TLC channel documents the Duggars’ day-to-day life in “18 Kids and Counting.”

The meeting happened in May while Parton was in town for Pigeon Forge’s annual parade in her honor. She and the Duggars met in a back room at a Dollywood restaurant, next to the theme park’s Celebrity Theatre. Outside one of the windows, a couple of camera-armed fans were set up, eager to capture any images they could of the moment.

Before she arrived, one of the Duggar children asked aloud: “Is Dolly a boy or a girl?”

When Parton entered the room, she was greeted with smiles and stares. “I watch your show all the time,” Parton told them. She gravitated to the youngest of the family, the Duggars’ 6-month-old baby girl, Jordyn-Grace Makiya.

“I could take you and nobody would notice in this big ol’ crowd,” she said, laughing to the baby that she held close.

The Duggars and Parton talked of their large families and their mutual faith. They then sang “Amazing Grace” together.

Jim Bob and Michelle aren’t sure they are ready to stop having children themselves.

“I leave that up to her,” Jim Bob, a businessman, said in May, referring to his wife.

The Duggars made their vacation to Pigeon Forge in May a working vacation. They rented a large cabin and participated in the Dolly parade. Along the way, they also visited Pigeon Forge attractions and had a bit of vehicle trouble.

The Duggars traveled in two

buses to Pigeon Forge. Surprisingly, the 18 children are well organized

and rarely act up in public, though having such a crowd in one room will bring its share of noise and stomping about.

“There is always an adventure wherever we go,” Jim Bob said, “ … but we always manage.”