You’d have to be living on under a rock to not know that Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour rolled into Toronto last week for six sold-out shows. The streets downtown around Rogers Centre were swarming with Swifties of all ages and genders, but not every fan was human. Two Toronto police horses got in the act, showing up to the concert venue wearing handmade friendship bracelets – a Swift trademark – around their necks.
The idea to have the police horses wear Taylor-made gear was developed by a Swift fan in the Toronto Police Corporate Communications Unit to engage positively with the hordes of Swift fans (an estimated 500,000 people) that descended on the city for the concerts.
“As a Taylor Swift fan who has attended the Eras Tour, I saw how the friendship bracelets were a real bonding moment for her fans,” Ashley Hammill, senior communications advisor told Horse-Canada.
Hammill explained that when she was at a Swift show in Indianapolis, she observed police officers trading friendship bracelets with fans, which inspired her to suggest the Toronto police force adopt a similar approach.
She also saw on social media that two of the Indianapolis police horses were wearing friendship bracelets, “and I thought it would be a great opportunity to take the fan and police engagement one step further right here at home. It’s been wonderful to see all the excited fans engaging with our officers and taking pictures with the horses.”
Insta-worthy officers on patrol. (photo courtesy Toronto Police)
To make it happen the communications team, including Hammill, consulted with the Toronto Police Mounted Unit on materials, and created the bracelets out of Styrofoam pucks, which were letter-stenciled and hand-painted based on the colours of Taylor Swift albums. They were strung together and clasped at the top for easy release. The Mounted Unit maintained the bracelets throughout the shows to keep them in good shape.
The horses (whose names are Bunny and Blue Jay) wore the bracelets for the first three shows and intend to wear them for the remaining three shows this weekend.
The superstar heads west for three dates in Vancouver on December 6-8; no word yet if the west coast police are prepping friendship bracelets.
More from News:
