At Dolly Parton’s SongTeller Hotel in Nashville, 4-year-old Ava Sanderson stood beneath a shower of butterfly confetti from Imagination Library leader Jeff Conyers during the Oct. 6 grand-opening celebration. Families whose children had received books through Parton’s program joined the ceremony for a project she’d helped shape before her death.
Parton died Aug. 25 at 80. In the hotel’s lobby, a Legacy Tribute displayed the dress she’d planned to wear to the opening of her hotel and museum.
The ribbon-cutting came a week after the 11-story hotel and Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum began welcoming visitors on Sept. 29. The property stands at 211 Commerce St., at Third Avenue North, just north of Broadway. After buying the former office building in 2023 for $75 million, Parton worked for years to transform it.
General manager Shannon Foster cut the ribbon before confetti cannons sent thousands of paper butterflies over the children gathered outside.
“Dolly has described SongTeller as her love letter to Nashville,” Foster said.
Parton’s longtime creative director, Steve Summers, called the opening “bittersweet.” He said it had been her dream and described how she wanted people to experience it: “You’re going to see it, feel it, and you’re going to know that you’re in a place where your heart guides you.”…