Local businesses embrace Taylor Swift Eras Tour arrival in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS – It's the Twin Cities (Taylor's Version).
Roughly 120,000 fans are expected to attend Taylor Swift's sold-out Eras Tour at U.S. Bank Stadium on Friday and Saturday, and local businesses are offering several options for Swifties to celebrate in style.
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"We have a lot of staff members who like Taylor Swift and we have a lot of customers who like [her] as well," said Nate Erickson, marketing manager, Flying Dutchman Spirits in Eden Prairie. "A lot of them are going ,so we thought it would be a great little sort of pre-concert party get ready for it."
The distillery on Thursday will sell special Taylor Swift-inspired cocktail flights with a custom drink for every Taylor Swift album, which fans and the pop star call Swift's "eras." There's a "Lover Lemonade," "Loving Him Was Red," and "Make The Whole Place Shimmer" on the menu, which are all nods to Swift's songs.
Erickson called it a "no brainer" to host a Taylor Swift-themed night with the specialty drinks on the eve of the first show. It's an experience he knows customers will enjoy.
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"I think everyone—especially in Minneapolis—lots of people just really love Taylor Swift," he said.
Glam Doll Donuts is offering Taylor Swift "party packs" that include donuts iced with the name of every album, plus one with a chocolate cutout of Swift on it.
Owner Teresa Fox said the shop has been flooded with pre-orders, which is the only way to purchase the specialty treats, since it made an announcement on Instagram Tuesday.
"We're always trying to do stuff that's really fun and connects with pop culture and connects with people," Fox told WCCO. "It makes our jobs more fun quite frankly."
Face value tickets for both shows are sold out. But a couple of lucky Minnesotans scored last minute tickets Wednesday through a Blue Plate Restaurant Company contest.
All month, fans snapped their best photos at one of the group's restaurants and posted them online for a chance at two tickets to the Saturday show, a $100 dinner and tour merchandise.
Sami Tomczak, senior marketing specialist at Blue Plate, waited long hours for tickets when they went on pre-sale—the day the surge of interest crashed Ticketmaster's website and left fans in the dust. She bought them specifically for this planned promotion.
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"We didn't want it to be a generic follow, like, post [on social media]," she explained. "We wanted to interact with the Swiftie audience. We knew they were excited. We knew they were creative."
The winning entry printed out names of every album and created a plate of food to represent each era.
"We knew with the Swifites, they would show up for sure," she joked. "We had no doubt."
Inbound BrewCo also has a beer to commemorate Swift's arrival to the Twin Cities, her first show here since 2018. They are also hosting Karaoke and trivia events over three days starting Thursday.
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