The Taylor Effect: How cities are renaming themselves for the Eras tour

Cities across the world are committed to making Taylor Swift feel at home. From changing their names to making Swift the mayor, here are all the grand gestures

In an unconventionally novel move, a city in Germany has temporarily renamed itself after Taylor Swift. The move was suggested by Aleshanee Westhoff, a young fan who took the initiative to write to the mayor of Gelsenkirchen. The humorous petition was made in honour of the pop star's upcoming Eras Tour shows happening in the city.

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has been one of the highest-grossing tours of all time.

For the next few weeks, the city of Gelsenkirchen will be renamed 'Swiftkirchen' but that's not all. The city has also installed a ‘Taylor Swift Tram’ for travelling around the city, which will be supplemented with more Taylor Swift paraphernalia around the city.

Surprisingly, this is not the first city that has dedicated such an unconventional tribute to the pop star. The Taylor Swift effect is real and believe it or not, this has happened before. Here's everything you need to know.

Glendale, Arizona

In May 2023, the mayor of Glendale, Arizona renamed the city in honour of the star's Eras tour. Temporarily christened ‘Swift City’, the name was official for the entire weekend Taylor played in the city.

Arlington, Texas

The city of Arlington ceremoniously renamed one of their streets to ‘Taylor Swift Way’ for the weekend she was performing. If this was not enough, the mayor also declared that a four-story steel sculpture in front of City Hall would be lit ‘Red’ in honour of the album.

Randol Mill Road was renamed Taylor Swift Way for a weekend in March 2023.(Arlington Govt. )

Tampa Bay, Florida

Tampa took things a little further, offering Taylor the title of ‘Mayor For The Day.’ To make it official, she was also given a key to the city. “Here in Tampa, we’ve got a reputation to uphold. We want to go bigger,” said Mayor Jane Castor in a video. “Mayor Swift has a nice ring to it. We can’t wait to welcome you and your fans to Tampa (Taylor’s version).”

The official key of the city for Taylor Swift.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia welcomed the star in their own way, choosing to rename a radio station. 96.5 TDY (WTDY-FM) was renamed Ninety-Swift-Five T-A-Y and in addition to the moniker dedication, the radio station also announced that it would exclusively play Swift for the weekend.

96.5 TDY (WTDY-FM) rebrands as Ninety-Swift-Five T-A-Y for a weekend.

Minnesota

In a friendly attempt to one-up every other city that changed its name for the pop star, Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz officially renamed two days of the calendar, 23 and 24 June, as ‘Taylor Swift Days’. The city of Minneapolis located in Minnesota also renamed itself ‘Swiftie-apolis’ for the occasion.

And there you have it. You might not like Taylor Swift or her music, but look what she made the whole world do!