The City of Toronto, in partnership with Rogers, unveiled new “Taylor Swift Way” ceremonial street signs to be installed this month. You can find the signs along the route connecting Nathan Phillips Square to Rogers Centre (along Queen St W, John St, Front St, and Blue Jays Way) in honour of Swift’s upcoming “The Eras Tour” shows in the city. In August, Council voted 21 to 1 in favour of Councillor Jennifer McKelvie’s motion to temporarily rename the route of streets to celebrate the artist.
“Taylor Swift will make the whole place shimmer at the Rogers Centre in concerts that Swifties will remember forever and always. These honorary signs created in partnership with Rogers will never go out of style and will support the Daily Bread Food Bank’s important work here in Toronto. It’s our way of following Taylor Swift’s lead of generosity to the communities she visits,” McKelvie said in a statement.
The 22 street signs will be donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank at the end of the month to raise money for the organization through auctions (Rogers will match funds raised of up to $113,000 – a nod to Swift’s lucky number, 13).
The online auction for the “1 Taylor Swift Way” street sign and six other Swift signs kicked off today and will run until Nov 10 at 11:45 pm (five more signs will be released for auction each Monday in November). That means, you can own a piece of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour history by winning one of these bids! As of publication, there is a bid of $2500 (and rising) for the 1 Taylor Swift Way street sign, but other signs are a bit more affordable (the lowest bid for a Taylor Swift Way sign topper with John Street sign currently sits at $300).
“It’s our honour to welcome Taylor Swift to Toronto for nearly a Fortnight of music and magic. We hope fans are Enchanted by their walk down ‘Taylor Swift Way’ and will generously support the auction of these signs – each a keepsake for Evermore that will help a great cause,” Mayor Olivia Chow said in a statement.
Swift will perform sold-out shows across two weekends in Toronto: Nov 14, 15, 16, 21, 22 and 23. She’s be the first artist ever to perform six nights at Rogers Centre in a single tour, and her concerts are expected to bring in well over $280 million to Toronto’s economy.
Her impact on the city is so significant that Rogers recently completed an $8 million upgrade to its 5G network at Rogers Centre, which will deliver three times more 5G network capacity throughout the stadium (this is critical, as past Eras Tour experiences indicate that thousands of fans will likely be livestreaming at Swift’s concerts). Tons of Toronto businesses are also prepping for their Taylor Swift moments, you can read more about that here.
