Fans rally to make major move in honouring legend Dolly Parton
Fans have started a petition, presenting a way to remember Dolly Parton
Over 100,000 of Dolly Parton's fans have signed a petition to rename Nashville International Airport in her honour.
A Change.org petition titled "Rename Nashville International Airport to Dolly Parton International Airport" has gained significant popularity after the country music icon's nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced her death on Tuesday, August 25.
Tennessee residents Lydia Popovich and Dan Dion launched the campaign in January 2025 "to honour an icon who has given so much to our state and to the world," and their campaign has been "reinvigorated" following Dolly's passing from a "brief battle with cancer" at the age of 80.
In a statement, they said, "Since her passing, tens of thousands of additional supporters have visited and signed this petition. The outpouring of support has reinvigorated our mission - to rename the Nashville International Airport to Dolly Parton International Airport.”
"A key decision maker, has responded to this petition; Tennessee State Senator Todd Warner has pledged to introduce legislation to make this change happen. We are so very grateful for his support and for ALL of the support coming in,” they added.
"Dolly deserves to be remembered and celebrated. What a wonderful way to share her light and magic across Tennessee and the world."
Tennessee state Rep. Todd Warner, garnered his support in the petition's comments section.
He penned: "Yes, I will definitely introduce legislation to rename the BNA airport Dolly Parton International Airport!"
Warner told PEOPLE magazine that he filed legislation to rename Nashville's airport after President Donald Trump, but after "so many people reach out" who wanted it named after a Tennessean and seeing his initial bill fail to pass in the committee, he turned his attention to another public figure.
Warner said, "Dolly was so good to this state. She cared about people. What she has done for this state economically, what she’s done for country music - and she cared about children … Just a great person. We need more Dollys in the world."
He noted that Tennessee has the money to rebrand and update signage at the airport and mentioned, "I think it would pay a great tribute to Dolly and what she’s done for the state and the country itself."
Meanwhile, City Councillor Russ Bradford has thrown his support behind the proposal as a "few have done more to define what this city means to the rest of the world” than Dolly.
But he stressed a final decision must come from the Airport Authority and needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Bradford told Axios Nashville, "I want to be clear about what this resolution does and doesn’t do: it’s a statement of support from Metro Council, urging MNAA [Metro Nashville Airport Authority] to take up the idea.
"The final decision on any name change rests with the Airport Authority, not with Council. I hope that this resolution sends a strong signal of how much our community would welcome this change, and that MNAA will give it serious consideration."
Nashville International Airport operates under the code BNA, which comes from its former name, Berry Field Nashville Airport, which honoured Tennessee-born US Army veteran Col. Harry Smith Berry, who served in World War I and World War II, and helped establish the airfield.
This comes in the wake of Tuesday’s announcement where Dolly's representatives confirmed in a statement that she died following a "brief battle" with cancer.
