{"id":768480,"date":"2026-09-12T16:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T16:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/768480\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T16:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T16:16:10","slug":"nashville-airport-board-unanimously-approves-name-change-to-honor-dolly-parton-nashville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/768480\/","title":{"rendered":"Nashville airport board unanimously approves name change to honor Dolly Parton | Nashville"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nashville<\/a> airport is to be renamed after Dolly Parton<\/a>, a board of commissioners voted on Friday, in tribute to the Smoky Mountain singer who is estimated to bring $1.8bn each year to Tennessee<\/a> through her Dollywood theme park.<\/p>\n

The decision ensures that Parton, who died last month at 80 years old, will be memorialized with her name on an airport, although the renaming process will take time to complete.<\/p>\n

In her lifetime, Parton did not think the idea, which came about last year, would come to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s probably more of a joke than anything,\u201d Parton told the Tennessean<\/a>. \u201cI mean, it does sound like a lot of fun to say: \u2018Your flight is departin\u2019 from Nashville\u2019s D Parton.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The move to rename gained traction last month when the Nashville mayor, Freddie O\u2019Connell, and the Tennessee<\/a> governor, Bill Lee, threw their support behind the name change.<\/p>\n

\u201cDolly Parton\u2019s extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state,\u201d Lee said in a statement<\/a>, recognizing what he called her \u201cVolunteer spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is fitting that Nashville<\/a> international airport would bear the name of our state\u2019s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly\u2019s music, generosity, faith and kindness,\u201d Lee added.<\/p>\n

After the airport\u2019s commissioners voted in favor of the change, Lee said it was an \u201cimportant step to honor her remarkable legacy\u201d as \u201cDolly has always helped the world fall in love with Tennessee\u201d.<\/p>\n

The name change is likely to be pricey since it will require new signage across the entire 4,500-acre (1,700-hectare) property, and updates to an airport monuments, merchandise, shuttle buses, uniforms, business cards, legal contracts and leases.<\/p>\n

Although the new airport name in her honor has not been decided, Tennessean columnist Alejandro Ramos argued last month<\/a> that the case for the change \u201cis larger than music\u201d because of her contributions to the state of Tennessee and to international literacy through her Imagination Library charity.<\/p>\n

\u201cParton\u2019s songs helped make Tennessee recognizable around the world. But her deepest legacy may be what she did with the success that followed. She accumulated the kind of fame, wealth and influence few people ever experience. Then she repeatedly turned those resources outward,\u201d Ramos wrote.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority said in a statement<\/a>: \u201cWhile a final name has not yet been determined, we are working closely with the appropriate parties to thoughtfully determine how Dolly Parton\u2019s name and legacy will be incorporated\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nashville airport is to be renamed after Dolly Parton, a board of commissioners voted on Friday, in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-768480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}