A push by followers to rename Nashville’s airport for Dolly Parton seems to be withdrawing simply days after the nation music icon’s loss of life.
Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee and the CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority each got here out in favor of the identify change Friday. It is anticipated to return up on the authority’s assembly subsequent month.
Lengthy earlier than 80-year-old Parton died Tuesday, followers in January 2025 began an on-line petition calling for officers to rename Nashville Worldwide Airport in her honor. It obtained renewed consideration following Parton’s loss of life, leaping to greater than 155,000 signatures Friday.
The change would make Parton the primary girl whose identify adorns considered one of America’s 50 busiest airports.
The governor stated he’s already mentioned the concept with representatives for Parton.
Dolly Parton reveals she has a secret track buried in a time capsule at Dollywood and it is driving her loopy to not dig it up earlier than its reveal.
“At a spot the place Tennessee welcomes the world, it’s becoming that Nashville Worldwide Airport would bear the identify of our state’s favourite daughter and greet vacationers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, religion, and kindness,” Lee stated in a press release.
Born in poverty within the foothills of the Nice Smoky Mountains, Parton turned an icon whose recognition crossed generational, geographic and political boundaries. Along with writing and recording hit songs similar to “Jolene” and “I Will All the time Love You,” she starred in Hollywood movies together with “9 to five” and “Metal Magnolias.”
Plenty of American airports bear the names of beloved celebrities, from Muhammad Ali Worldwide Airport in Louisville, Kentucky, to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. New Orleans’ airport was renamed for jazz icon Louis Armstrong in 2001.
The overwhelming majority of U.S. airports named for an individual honor males. Invoice and Hillary Clinton Nationwide Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, is one exception. One other is Amelia Earhart Memorial Airport in Atchison, Kansas.
Placing Parton’s identify on the Nashville airport might require its governing authority to revisit its coverage for such honors, which states that airport properties ought to solely be named for individuals who have been useless for no less than two years.
The governor’s workplace stated his proposal and the naming coverage might be mentioned by the airport authority at its assembly Sept. 17.
