Taylor Swift expected to bring millions in revenue to Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Taylor Swift is taking over the city this weekend.
Everywhere you turn, there will be food, drinks or merchandise for sale in the pop star's honor.
"I didn't get everything I wanted though," Justin Diperna of Green Tree said Friday after waiting in line for merchandise. "I'll have to come back tomorrow. They were sold out of the blue shirt I wanted."
The city is expecting thousands of fans to be crowded on the North Shore and said the concert is expected to bring in record-breaking numbers. KDKA-TV met fans from Canada, Washington, D.C., Virginia and North Carolina on Friday.
"We can safely estimate the impact of the Taylor Swift concerts on the local economy to surpass the revenue of last year's Elton John concerts, which was about $11.5M in visitor and resident spending in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County," VisitPITTSBURGH CEO Jerad Bachar said.
"Given that Elton John was a one-time concert, where Taylor Swift will be performing twice, VisitPITTSBURGH can predict an even greater delta, and we will be conducting a full impact study following the concerts. We know concerts are great business for our region, and we're thrilled to have so many wonderful mega-drawing artists lined up to perform here in the coming months."
As fans prepare their outfits to go along with the Eras Tour concert theme, businesses are also preparing.
"My era is 'Midnight.' So, it's like a star-like cape and like all this blue," said Emily Bowden, a fan from Syracuse.
"I'm 'Fearless,' so I have my cowboy boots and I have my flowy skirt and my jean jacket. Ready to go," said Allison Bowden, Emily's mother.
The North Shore Tavern said it has created a new drink in honor of Swift.
"I wanted it to be after her hit song, 'Lavender Haze,'" said Tia Muscarella, beverage manager at the North Shore Tavern. "People are getting very excited when they see it. People in Pittsburgh have been waiting for this concert since November."
Over at the Carnegie Science Center, a scavenger hunt is prepared for fans to find ten tiny Taylors at the Miniature Railroad Village.
"It's been really exciting to see kids kind of run up and go, 'Oh my gosh. Taylor! Tay Tay!'" Rosalie Garfinkle said, assistant manager of the Miniature Railroad Village.
The hidden figures were handmade by Garfinkle.
"This is just Taylor in her debut era. I made her cowboy boots and I had to make her hair," Garfinkle said.
The figures are part of a promotion to a laser show happening at the Planetarium for "a full Swift surprise."
So far, they said business is booming.
"This week was the first week where it kind of really ramped up in sales and we saw a lot more," Garfinkle said.
As restaurants and bars expect a non-stop weekend, hotels have also been booked for weeks.
Emily Bowden and her mother said they managed to book a room in February but said they were coming, with or without a place to stay.
"I think we would have slept in our car," Allison Bowden said.