The tributes to Dolly Parton are already taking many varieties, however two of the most important are wanting past the speedy mourning: a competition conceived by Parton herself is being revived for 2027, whereas Tennessee officers are proposing to rename Nashville Worldwide Airport in her honor. The leisure legend died final week at 80 after a short most cancers battle.
Parton’s Property revealed right this moment (Aug. 31) that DOLLYFEST will happen in Nashville and London throughout two consecutive weekends in 2027, remodeling what was initially deliberate as a January 2026 Nashville occasion into what the Property describes as a “double-day, double-weekend, double-continent” celebration. The unique competition was supposed to function Parton as each performer and host earlier than her well being challenges pressured her to step again.
“What Dolly began, we are going to guarantee is dropped at life,” mentioned her supervisor Danny Nozell, founder/CEO of CTK Enterprises. Nozell mentioned DOLLYFEST had been a dream of Parton’s, initially supposed to coincide together with her eightieth birthday in Nashville, with the venue booked and announcement ready earlier than her well being points intervened in August 2025.
The Property is positioning the occasion a continuation of one thing Parton herself needed to share with followers. “Nonetheless, so far as a conventional memorial goes, that isn’t one thing Dolly needed,” Nozell mentioned. “So, as an alternative, it feels extra applicable for us to take a beat, let all of the tributes that instantly make sense happen naturally, after which, see via this festival-style idea that was actually dreamed up by Dolly.” Additional particulars are forthcoming.
In the meantime, the sate of Tennessee is contemplating a tribute of a quite extra everlasting selection. On Aug. 28, Gov. Invoice Lee and Nashville Worldwide Airport introduced their intent to call BNA in Parton’s honor, a proposal that may come earlier than the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority at its Sept. 17 assembly.
“Dolly Parton’s extraordinary life is ceaselessly woven into the material of our state,” Lee mentioned. “From her rural mountain dwelling in East Tennessee to international levels, Dolly carried the Volunteer Spirit together with her. At a spot the place Tennessee welcomes the world, it’s becoming that Nashville Worldwide Airport would bear the title of our state’s favourite daughter and greet vacationers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, religion and kindness.”
Parton’s group has expressed appreciation for the outpouring of help and mentioned it’s open to persevering with the dialog across the airport proposal. The initiative would add a really public marker to a legacy that has lengthy prolonged effectively past Parton’s music, from the Dollywood Basis and Creativeness Library to the tons of of hundreds of thousands of free books distributed to kids worldwide.
Doug Kreulen, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, tied the proposed naming to Parton’s famously expansive thought of hospitality. “Dolly’s outstanding legacy reminds us that what makes Nashville particular is our skill to welcome individuals from each stroll of life,” he mentioned. “She understood that dignity, kindness and alternative ought to by no means be outlined by the place you come from or your socioeconomic standing.”
