Cheekwood, Swan Ball Planners Reach Agreement to Split - Articles

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Cheekwood, Swan Ball Planners Reach Agreement to Split

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Dec 12, 2024

The struggle over the Swan Ball is over, the Nashville Business Journal reports. The annual gala, which has benefited Cheekwood Botanical Garden for the last 61 years, will live on but no longer will benefit that nonprofit. The agreement settles competing lawsuits filed by the tourist attraction and a group of volunteers who plan the white-tie gala. The dispute between the two groups burst into public view midsummer, when planners accused the garden of "planning a coup" to take control of the gala. Cheekwood hit back, arguing in a countersuit that it controlled the Swan Ball. It also accused the volunteers of "increasingly extravagant" spending that made the gala costlier to hold. The volunteer group will retain the Swan Ball trademark and name. Its 2025 event will take place on June 7 and benefit Friends of Warner Park, a nonprofit that raises money to beautify and improve the Edwin Warner and Percy Warner parks, which border Cheekwood's property.