A future Dolly Parton tribute at Nashville International Airport could be more useful than another giant sign.
The woman who helped organize the petition to put Parton’s name on BNA is now proposing an Imagination Library space inside the airport, where children could pick up a book while waiting for a flight and families could learn how to join Dolly’s famous reading program.
For now, it is only an idea. Nashville International Airport has not announced or approved an Imagination Library area.
But the proposal comes as airport leaders begin a much bigger job: deciding exactly how Parton’s name and legacy should become part of BNA.
And for an airport that serves millions of families, a place filled with free children’s books would certainly tell visitors something about Dolly that a name on a terminal cannot.
The pink flash drive that made it to the boardroom
Lydia Popovich helped organize the public campaign to rename the Nashville airport for Parton along with Dan Dion.
The petition eventually collected more than 175,000 signatures.
When the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority met Sept. 11, Popovich showed up with those names stored on an appropriately Dolly-colored piece of technology: a pink flash drive.
The airport board voted unanimously, 6-0, to begin the process of adding Parton’s name to Nashville International Airport. No final airport name has been selected. Airport officials have said the process will involve working with Parton’s estate and the Federal Aviation Administration and could take at least a year.
WSMV reported that Popovich does not want the tribute to stop with changing the words on the building.
She suggested creating an Imagination Library area in one of BNA’s concourses, giving young travelers a chance to get books while their families wait for flights. The space could also introduce parents to the program and help eligible families find out how to enroll.
It is not hard to see why the idea fits an airport.
Anyone who has traveled with a small child knows that a delayed flight can turn 45 minutes at the gate into a very long 45 minutes.
A book does not make the airplane arrive faster. It might, however, make the wait a little easier.
The Imagination Library started in Tennessee
The proposal would also put one of Parton’s biggest charitable projects in front of people arriving in the state where it began.
Parton launched the Imagination Library in 1995 for children in her home county in East Tennessee.
The basic idea has remained wonderfully simple: registered children receive an age-appropriate book in the mail each month from birth until age five, at no cost to their families.
The program later expanded far beyond Tennessee. It now operates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland.
The Imagination Library says it currently mails more than 3 million books every month around the world. Tennessee achieved statewide coverage of the program in 2004.
That history makes the airport proposal different from simply opening a Dolly-themed gift shop.
Parton spent decades connecting her name with early childhood literacy. An airport reading area could give visitors a quick introduction to that part of her Tennessee story — including families who know every word of “Jolene” but may know much less about the millions of books mailed in her name.
BNA still has a lot to figure out
There is one important distinction for travelers to keep in mind.
The board’s Sept. 11 vote did not instantly turn Nashville International Airport into a fully renamed Dolly Parton airport.
It started the process.
Airport leaders still have to settle on the formal name, coordinate with Parton’s estate and work through federal requirements. Airport CEO Doug Kreulen told WSMV that BNA’s familiar three-letter airport code will remain because it is used in airline and flight operations.
Officials are also studying everything that might have to change once a final name is approved, from the large monument sign along Interstate 40 to materials used inside the airport.
That leaves plenty of room for another question: What does “honoring Dolly” actually look like once passengers walk through the doors?
A name above the entrance is one answer.
Music, displays, artwork or other airport features could be others.
Popovich’s proposal adds something different to that conversation because children would actually be able to use it.
It could give travelers a different introduction to Nashville
BNA already works as a kind of front porch for Nashville.
For many visitors, the airport is their first encounter with Music City before they ever reach Broadway, the Ryman, a hot chicken restaurant or their downtown hotel.
Parton obviously belongs in Nashville’s musical story. But her Tennessee identity has never been limited to records and concerts.
The Imagination Library grew from a small East Tennessee program into an international effort that sends books directly to young children’s homes.
Putting that story inside an airport would introduce visitors to a side of Dolly that does not require a pair of headphones.
There is also something charmingly practical about it.
Airports sell plenty of things designed to help adults survive a layover. Coffee, food and phone chargers are never far away.
The idea still has to become a real project
A corner where a 3-year-old can discover a new book would serve a different kind of passenger.
None of that means families should arrive at BNA this weekend expecting a Dolly bookshelf next to their gate.
Airport officials have not announced an Imagination Library space, and WSMV described it as a proposal from Popovich as the larger renaming process gets underway.
The authority has said it will release more information in the coming months as decisions are made about the airport’s future name and how Parton’s legacy will be incorporated.
That means the free-book idea currently belongs in the “wouldn’t this be neat?” category, not the airport map.
Still, Nashville has now moved from debating whether Dolly Parton should become part of BNA’s name to deciding what that honor should actually mean.
Popovich has put one option on the table.
Instead of giving traveling families only something to photograph, give their kids something to read.
Sources
WSMV 4, Sept. 11, 2026: reporting on the airport board vote, Lydia Popovich’s pink flash drive and her proposal for an Imagination Library space at BNA.
Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority information reported following the Sept. 11 unanimous 6-0 vote, including that a final name has not yet been selected.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: official program history, eligibility information and current book distribution figures.
