Several Moose Jaw residents will be a part of the thousands of people flocking to Toronto as the final leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour begins tonight.
Two of those residents are Megan Weiland and Tara Bedard, who have caught the eye of one of Taylor Swift’s backup dancers Kameron Saunders.
In preparation for the tour, Bedard began to work on her outfit including a pair of custom-designed sneakers.
“I painted them with some acrylic paint markers. I made them geared towards Kam Saunders, who's one of Taylor Swift's dancers. He's my favourite, and he's really the reason I'm going,” said Bedard.
Elaborate outfits are just one part of the pageantry of the tour with fans spending countless hours creating Taylor Swift-themed outfits and friendship bracelets.
“I made a Reel and I posted them on Instagram and Kam saw [the shoes].”
Saunders reached out to Bedard via Direct Messaging on Instagram with a request for her.
“Turns out he wants me to make him a pair, so I'm going to do that,” noted Bedard – who was a little starstruck.
“I totally fan girled. I was at work and I had to go in the bathroom and calm down for 10 minutes.”
Bedard has acquired a new pair of sneakers and purple – Kam's favourite colour - markers but hasn’t started creating them yet.
Bedard is hoping to turn her once-in-a-lifetime experience into a positive for the Moose Jaw Humane Society.
“I am hoping he signs the original pair that he likes so much in trade for his new purple pair that I'm going to make.”
“If we do get the signature from Kam, the plan is that we will auction the shoes off in proceeds for the [Moose Jaw] Humane Society and their new building. So, knowing that Taylor is a big cat lover, I'm really hopeful that her team gives him the green light to be able to do that.”
At the time of publication, Discover Moose Jaw hadn’t heard if Saunders was able to sign the sneakers.
Like many Swifties, Weiland and Bedard’s journey to the Eras Tour began well over a year ago.
“It actually turns out that I have some amazing clients through dog grooming, [her client] ended up getting four tickets off of her Avion. When she realized that she had two tickets, she called me knowing that I am a big Swift fan and she wanted the tickets to go to somebody that would appreciate them, not just somebody who was, you know, trying to make a buck,” said Weiland – the owner of Spike Grooming.
Over a year later and countless hours of planning and decorating later the pair is set to take everything in.
“Our outfits are on our carry-ons just in case luggage gets lost. We are travelling with 100-plus friendship bracelets. Our nails are painted. Our outfits are set. So we are very excited,” exclaimed Weiland.
The pair are now in Toronto and are eagerly awaiting showtime and hopeful to get Saunder’s signature.
