One month after Dolly Parton died in Nashville, Music City is getting ready to do something that feels especially fitting: celebrate her by giving something away.
Friday, Sept. 25 — written as 9/25 — will become Dolly Day in Nashville. The date is, of course, a wink at Parton’s famous “9 to 5.” But the citywide event is being built around much more than a clever calendar trick.
There will be pink lights, Dolly songs, special food and drinks, and a downtown fireworks show. There will also be fundraisers, book donations and support for local nonprofits.
That mix may be the most Nashville part of the whole thing. Dolly Day is part party, part memorial and part volunteer spirit.
Parton died Aug. 25 at age 80, according to an official announcement from her team. She died peacefully in Nashville after a career that made her one of Tennessee’s most famous exports.
Now, exactly one month later, Nashville will spend a day celebrating what she left behind.
At 5 p.m., expect to hear a very familiar song
The Dolly Day idea comes from a group that includes the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, Music Community Foundation, Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
One of the easiest ways to take part will require no ticket at all.
At 5 p.m. on Sept. 25, participating music venues around Nashville are being encouraged to perform “9 to 5” at the same time. Businesses can also play Parton’s music, offer Dolly-themed specials or raise money for charities.
That means the city could have one of those rare moments when Broadway, neighborhood bars, restaurants and smaller stages are all working from the same songbook.
And yes, Nashville is leaning into the color scheme.
The Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge, Historic Metro Courthouse and City Hall are expected to glow pink. Other businesses are being invited to join them.
The day is scheduled to end with a short 9:25 p.m. fireworks show downtown, keeping the 9-to-5 theme going right to the finish.
A Broadway bar is giving away an entire day of sales
One of the biggest commitments so far comes from Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk, the Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood venue at 411 Broadway.
The honky-tonk says 100% of its Sept. 25 sales, from 10 a.m. until 2 a.m., will go to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and Nashville Public Library. The venue will also collect children’s books during the day.
That puts literacy — one of the causes most closely tied to Parton — right in the middle of a Lower Broadway celebration.
Her Imagination Library began in 1995 and has since distributed more than 300 million books to children, according to the Dolly Day announcement from Friends In Low Places.
The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum is also participating. It plans to donate $9.25 from each admission that day to the Imagination Library.
Those numbers may sound playful, but the money behind them is real.
“Give Like Dolly” will stretch beyond one day
The charitable side of the event will continue through the weekend.
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee is organizing Give Like Dolly – Middle Tennessee, a three-day campaign running Sept. 25 through Sept. 27.
The campaign will direct attention to local nonprofits working in several areas connected with Parton’s philanthropy. A separate category will support Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Middle Tennessee directly. The regional effort is tied to a broader Give Like Dolly campaign launched by the Dollywood Foundation.
That gives people who want to mark the occasion without heading downtown another option.
Dolly Day is not being treated as one giant ticketed festival with a single stage. Organizers are encouraging neighborhoods, schools, musicians, shops and other groups to create their own ways to participate.
NewsChannel 5 reported that free Dolly Day buttons, stickers and bookmarks are also planned at Nashville Visitor Information Centers.
Nashville already has a busy Sept. 25
Dolly Day will also land on a Friday when Nashville already has plenty happening.
Musicians Corner is scheduled for its fall-series finale at Centennial Park from 5 to 9 p.m., with Buddy Miller among the performers listed for Sept. 25.
Artville, Nashville’s public arts festival, is also scheduled to begin its Sept. 25-27 weekend at Walk of Fame Park.
So Dolly Day will not arrive in an empty downtown waiting for a crowd. It will be layered onto a city that was already planning a busy fall Friday.
That could actually fit the idea better.
Instead of asking Nashville to stop everything for Dolly, organizers are asking existing pieces of Nashville — bars, museums, music venues, neighborhoods and nonprofits — to make Dolly part of what they are already doing.
This is becoming a larger chapter in Nashville’s Dolly story
The timing gives the event a weight that would have been hard to imagine earlier this year.
Parton’s death triggered tributes well beyond Tennessee. Her music streams surged sharply in the days afterward, and memorials appeared in Nashville and other cities.
Her team has also said projects she had been developing will continue. A larger Dollyfest celebration is planned for Nashville and London in 2027.
So Sept. 25 is unlikely to be Nashville’s final public tribute.
But Dolly Day has a different feel from a concert or museum exhibit. You do not need a premium seat, a backstage pass or even much money to participate. Wearing pink, donating a book, giving to a nonprofit or simply hearing “9 to 5” at 5 p.m. all count.
For a woman whose name became attached to everything from country music to children’s books, that may be the point.
On 9/25, Nashville will have plenty of Dolly.
What organizers seem to want most, though, is a little more of what Dolly did.
Sources
NewsChannel 5/WTVF source article supplied for this story.
Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp., Sept. 17 Dolly Day announcement.
Read the official Dolly Day announcement
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Give Like Dolly – Middle Tennessee.
See the Give Like Dolly campaign
Official Dolly Parton website, Aug. 25 announcement of Parton’s death.
Read the official announcement
Visit Music City, Friends In Low Places Dolly Day announcement.
