What would Dolly do? Throw a party.
Following Dolly Parton’s death at 80, her estate has announced DollyFest: The Celebration of a Lifetime, a two-weekend festival set to take place in Nashville and London in 2027.
And while the scale of it is big, the idea behind it is actually pretty simple: this is apparently how Dolly wanted to be remembered.
Rather than holding a large public memorial service, Parton’s estate is continuing with a celebration she had already started planning herself.
The original event was intended to mark her 80th birthday in Nashville in January 2026, with Parton set to host and perform alongside a lineup of other artists.
Those plans were paused in August 2025 when she stepped back due to health issues.
Now, the idea has been expanded into DollyFest, with events planned across Nashville and London to give fans and artists a chance to celebrate her life and music.
Parton was laid to rest in a private family service in Tennessee, and according to her longtime manager and business partner Danny Nozell, a formal public funeral was never what she wanted.
Instead, the focus is firmly on music.
Exact dates, lineups and ticket information are still to be announced, but organisers say the festival will take place across two weekends in 2027.
It feels like a fitting extension of the way Parton approached most things throughout her career: with warmth, humour and very little interest in being overly solemn.
Nozell summed it up with a phrase that has long followed Parton.
“A lot of people always say, WWDD (What Would Dolly Do?),” he said. “And, well, at this moment, DollyFest is WDWD (What Dolly Would Do!).”
In this case, the answer seems pretty clear.
Dolly would throw a party.
