PAUSE STUDIO OPENS
HOLIDAY PARTIES
DECEMBER 19, 2024 | VOLUME 36 | NUMBER 50
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Nashville swimmer Gretchen Walsh earns comparisons to sport’s all-time greats
Cheekwood Estate and Gardens
Harpeth Hall grad sets 11 world records during six-day international meet in Hungary JOHN GLENNON
PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS
Swan Ball group retains rights to event trademark
Cheekwood officials, SB Initiative reach settlement, resolve months-long legal battle WILLIAM WILLIAMS Cheekwood Estate and Gardens has finalized an agreement with SB Initiative Inc. that will allow the latter to retain all rights to the Swan Ball event name and trademark. The resolution, announced in a release issued jointly by the two parties, resolves a months-long legal battle regarding control of the trademark. Specifically, SB Initiative (SBI) will control the Swan Ball domain and all data and associated programs and platforms. Cheekwood and SBI issued the following statement in the release: “SBI and Cheekwood have agreed to prioritize their independent charitable missions and resolve this dispute by separating Cheekwood and the Swan Ball. SBI currently owns the Swan Ball trademark. SBI and Cheekwood wish each other well.” SBI’s board comprises 13 former Swan Ball chairmen, “all of whom have supported
the Swan Ball and Cheekwood for many years,” according to the statement. As The News sister publication the Nashville Post reported in mid-October, and according to a document filed in the federal court overseen by U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson, the two parties had submitted a joint notice of settlement, in which they state that they have reached an agreement in principle related to the ownership of the annual Swan Ball event’s trademark. Prior to the settlement, Cheekwood contended it established and had owned the Swan Ball since 1963, when the gala was first held on the nonprofit’s Swan Lawn. Relatedly, Cheekwood claimed it has owned the Tennessee trademark registration for Swan Ball since July 2004. The event has generated more than $37 million in support of Cheekwood since 1963. SBI on July 8 sued Cheekwood to retain
control of the event and trademark, alleging that Cheekwood had wrongly attempted to wrest Swan Ball operations from the group. Cheekwood later countersued SBI, claiming the entity did not have ownership of the event or trademark. The Swan Ball will benefit Friends of Warner Parks in 2025 rather than Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, according to a press release issued in October. The event is set for June 7, 2025, at Edwin Warner Park, with the Metro Parks Department Board having approved permitting for the event. Maia Woodhouse, an Adams and Reese attorney, represented Cheekwood, and Chanelle Acheson, Waddey Acheson cofounder and attorney, represented SBI. This article was first published via our sister publication the Nashville Post.
Nashville’s Gretchen Walsh is being compared to some of the all-time swimming greats after her performance at the recently completed 2024 World Aquatics 25m Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Walsh set 11 world records (nine individual, two relay) and captured seven world titles (five individual, two relay) during the six-day meet held in a 25-meter pool, en route to being named the meet’s best female swimmer. She won the title in all five of her individual events (50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle, 50-meter butterfly, 100-meter butterfly and 100-meter individual medley) and both of her relays (4×100-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley). Walsh on Sunday set her ninth individual world record of the meet and won her fifth individual title in the 50-meter freestyle with a 22.83, breaking her own world record of 22.87 set Saturday in the event’s semifinal. “I feel like short course (the 25-meter pool) is really where I found my groove, and I’m just happy to prove to myself that I’m capable of doing stuff like this,” Walsh told reporters after the race. “So it’s been really fun racing in front of this crowd, in front of Team USA and for USA. I’ve just had a really great week, and I am always going to remember >> PAGE 2
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