'Swiftkirchen': German City Temporarily Renamed Ahead Of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour (image@taylorswift13)
Taylor Swift is not done with grabbing headlines. Ahead of her most famous and expensive Eras Tour, a city in western Germany, Gelsenkirchen, is temporarily renaming itself “Swiftkirchen” in honour of Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras Tour shows. Karin Welge, the city’s mayor, approved the proposal ahead of the popstar’s performance scheduled from July 17-19.
The popstar is set to perform at three concerts in Gelsenkirchen, and thousands of her fans, known as Swifties, are expected to attend. The city is preparing for the events by putting up signs with the new name that translates to “Swift’s Church.”
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The decision to temporarily change the city’s name was taken after Aleshanee Westhoff from Emmerich, who is a fan of Swift, started a petition and wrote to Mayor Welge about this.
“It’s a great idea to temporarily rename Gelsenkirchen to ‘Swiftkirchen,’ which is why I’m particularly pleased that you can experience the short-term ‘renaming’ of Gelsenkirchen live and up close in Gelsenkirchen today,” Welge replied to Westhoff, as per an official release.
The release also stated that the first signage that marks the entrance to “Swiftkirchen” has also been installed by Westhoff on Ebertstrasse.
Apart from that, a “Taylor Swift tram” from Bogestra is already said to be on the road and will be making an attractive selfie motif, while highlighting the red frames that have been set up all over the city, said the release.
Swift will also receive her own stone on the Gelsenkirchen Walk of Fame, alongside local notables like soccer coach Rudi Assauer and writer Ilse Kibgis.
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That is not all, the German city will even be hosting a “big open-air Taylor Swift party,” which has been named “Taylor Town.” It will feature “lots of offers (swap market, karaoke, tattoos) related to the star.”
“As mayor, I am of course very happy that Taylor Swift, currently the most successful singer in the world, will be performing three times in Gelsenkirchen. International attention will therefore be back on our city immediately after EURO 2024.” said Welge in the official statement.
This is not the first time a city is temporarily being renamed for Swift. At the beginning of the Eras Tour in March last year, Arizona’s Glendale was temporarily renamed as “Swift City” in honour of the singer’s tour stop in the city.
