Nashville has set aside 25 September for Dolly Parton. Mayor Freddie O'Connell will formally proclaim the date Dolly Day in the city, a month after Parton died at 80, and the day is built as a public tribute rather than a ceremony behind closed doors.
"Dolly Parton's impact on Nashville will be felt for generations, through her music, her many acts of kindness," O'Connell said, adding that she showed the city what caring for a community looks like and inviting everyone in it to take part.
California got there the same week. Governor Gavin Newsom signed state bill SB 931 on Sunday, recognising 25 September, written as 9/25, as a nod to 9 to 5. State Senator Shannon Grove, a Republican, co-authored the bipartisan bill with the Democrat John Laird, and her statement put the emphasis on the Imagination Library and the millions of books it has put into children's hands. San Francisco is holding a free Dolly Day celebration of its own.
Other places have followed. Portland, Oregon declared 9/25 Dolly Parton Day, with city council president Jamie Dunphy telling residents to play music, read a book with a child and help a neighbour. Montgomery and Hayes counties in Texas approved resolutions of their own.
Nashville's programme is the most detailed. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are donating every dollar their Friends in Low Places Bar and Honky-Tonk takes on the day to the Nashville Public Library and to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. At 5 p.m. participating venues across the city will play 9 to 5 from their stages. Restaurants, coffee shops, bars and shops are being asked to run Dolly-themed specials, free buttons, stickers and bookmarks will be handed out at the visitor centres at Bridgestone Arena and Fifth and Broadway, and a short fireworks display will go up downtown at 9:25 p.m.
A giving campaign runs alongside it. Rondal Richardson of the Music Community Foundation said the music business has always looked to Parton as an example of using a platform to lift other people up, and framed Give Like Dolly as a way of turning that into support for organisations across Middle Tennessee. Hal Cato, who runs the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, made a similar case about generosity rooted in a genuine attachment to a place.
The city had already renamed its airport after her. Since her death in August the tributes have kept coming, and the machinery she built has kept running without her: her book programme carried on exactly as she designed it to. Proclamations and honours of this kind are tracked on award watch, alongside the rest of the country awards calendar.
The facts
- Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell will proclaim 25 September 2026 Dolly Day in the city.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 931 recognising the same date statewide.
- The date, written 9/25, is a nod to Parton's song 9 to 5.
- Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are donating the day's takings from their Nashville bar.
- Participating Nashville venues will play 9 to 5 at 5 p.m., with fireworks downtown at 9:25 p.m.
- Portland, Oregon and Montgomery and Hayes counties in Texas have made their own declarations.
- Parton died in August at the age of 80.
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