Z99 Radio Host Greg "Wheels" Moore sits for a photograph with a friendship bracelet in Regina on Friday, July 19, 2024. The friendship bracelet is being created in an attempt to be the largest in the world in a bid to bring Taylor Swift back to the province. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu
REGINA – Megan Weiland has made a friendship bracelet for every Taylor Swift album.
The Regina woman has also crafted one in Saskatchewan Roughriders green and white — an homage to the mega-pop star’s football-playing boyfriend Travis Kelce. There is also one in pink and green to give the effect of watermelon, something Rider fans are known to wear on their heads at games.
Weiland’s bracelets, and hundreds more, have been strung together around a spool, reaching 100 metres in length — or about the size of a football field.
It’s like a long love letter: Please, Taylor, you belong with us.
“I think if we collectively as a province wave our Taylor flag, something might happen,” Weiland said in an interview.
“You never know, right? Travis didn’t think he’d land the most popular woman on Earth, but he did.”
Since June, Saskatchewan Swifties have been wooing the star to once again make a stop in the province.
Swift has been on her Eras world tour, drawing hundreds of thousands of fans from London to Tokyo. She is coming to Canada later this year, to perform in Toronto and Vancouver.
She’s not coming to Saskatchewan but there’s a wellspring of never-say-die Swifites promoting events and ideas to find ways to lure the star “Back to Saskatch.”
Swift referred to the province as Saskatch when she was last here in 2009 for the Craven Country Jamboree, now known as Country Thunder.
She had also said that year she liked antique shopping in Saskatoon.
“I like to shorten Saskatchewan. Like “I got this lamp in Saskatch,” she wrote on social media.
Z99 morning show host Greg Moore, known as Wheels, said when he heard she loves Saskatchewan, the idea came to try to bring her back.
Swifties also bring good energy, he said.
“The world needs more of that, and to spread this kind of joy is a win-win,” Moore said.
“It’s palpable and you see it everywhere.”
For instance, hundreds recently gathered ““ about a fortnight ago — at Regina’s downtown mall to make the bracelets, which are commonly exchanged at Swift concerts.
They also held a massive dance party at this year’s Country Thunder.
There’s been a corn maze mowed south of Regina with the words Corn Era Tour carved into the landscape in hopes Swift sees it from her private plane.
A minor league baseball team recently wore “Back to Saskatch” eye-blacks for a game.
“It’s been surreal to watch it grow, week after week,” Moore said.
Even those who don’t care for the singer-songwriter are willing to shake it off.
The City of Swift Current has promised to temporarily change its name, possibly to Taylor Swift Current or Swiftie Current, should she make an appearance.
Mayor Al Bridal said he didn’t even know who Swift was.
“I had to go online to see a picture of her. I didn’t know what she looked like. She’s 34 and I heard she has a boyfriend in the NFL,” Bridal said.
Kelce plays for the Kansas City Chiefs.
“But I just went with it and said, ‘Go ahead.’ It’s a fun thing and hopefully gets to Taylor Swift’s (public relations) people.”
City councillor Ryan Switzer, who convinced Bridal to agree to change Swift Current’s name, said the economic spinoffs would be huge.
Switzer said he’s also a fan.
“She has a lovely voice and there are few songs of hers that I turn up when they come on the radio,” he said.
While Swifties wait to see whether their work has paid off, some think she might have already noticed.
Swift recently wore a green and yellow outfit — Saskatchewan’s colours — for one of her shows. At a separate show, on the same day the Roughriders were playing, she wore pink and green.
“Does she see us? Suddenly is she working on something?” Moore said.
“We don’t know at this point, but knowing Taylor Swift and her ability to have fun with fans, I wouldn’t put it past her to close this loop on the story and say, ‘You know what, I’m going to come back at some capacity because I love you, too.'”
Weiland, who scored concert tickets to see Swift in Toronto later this year, said she hopes for good karma.
“It’s a lot of work being a Swiftie. You got to stay on top of it,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2024.
