Close X
Saturday, January 11, 2025
ADVT 
National

Creative Taylor Swift fans craft ways around bracelet rules for Vancouver shows

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 05 Dec, 2024 11:16 AM
  • Creative Taylor Swift fans craft ways around bracelet rules for Vancouver shows

When BC Place stadium announced a ban on loose objects and large bags for Taylor Swift's upcoming shows in Vancouver, it put some Swifties in a bind — what to do with the hundreds of friendship bracelets that are traditionally swapped at the superstar's shows?

That has forced fans, including Christina Bates, from Nashville, Tenn., to get creative. 

"I can comfortably fit 40 on each arm," she said. "I have done the test run with it, and we can do 40 without circulatory issues."

She had made more than 200 bracelets for Friday's show. 

Swift's blockbuster Era's Tour will end on Sunday after her three-night run in Vancouver. 

Security is tight for the shows, with BC Place installing barricades around the stadium and banning the traditional "Taylgate" parties where ticketless fans gather outside arenas to listen for free.

"We’re as excited about exchanging friendship bracelets as you are," BC Place said in an information bulletin posted last week. 

"However, all friendship bracelets must be worn into the stadium or carried in a bag which abides by (the) bag policy. Carabiners (metal or plastic) holding bracelets are strictly prohibited."

Fans have been lamenting the regulations online, with one posting to a fan forum that she had "just ordered the cutest heart and star shaped carabiners to sort my bracelets." 

Others, like Bates, posed solutions. One fan said she planned to use a "cat collar as a garter" to carry hers into the stadium, while others planned to attach them to their outfits or wear cargo pants. 

Some decided on a more obvious option: trade them outside the arena.

Bates said her initial goal was to make 100 bracelets, but over the course of the year since she scored tickets to Friday's show, she more than doubled that count. 

"I would be listening to Taylor or watching a livestream and I'd think 'I should have made that lyric' so I just kind of kept making them," she said. 

"We are officially closed now because we are out of letters."

BC Place did not immediately respond when asked why it was banning bracelets on carabiners. 

The policy restricts attendees to a small purse or a clear bag no bigger than 12 inches square.

The fan-led practice of trading bracelets is a response to a lyric in Swift's song "You're On Your Own, Kid": "So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it."

Swifties ran with the idea. 

Edmonton resident Mikayla Crook has been to four previous Taylor Swift tours. 

"Within the course of the year, I've made probably close to 800 bracelets," she said.

She said she probably spent up to $300 on supplies and has held bracelet-making parties for the friends who will attend Friday's concert with her. She hopes to trade 300 of them at the show.

"I've learned that they can be attached to your body, so I bought safety pins," she said. "I'll attach it to my bodysuit, because then that way it's part of my outfit."

 

MORE National ARTICLES

Chrystia Freeland says carbon rebate for small businesses will be tax-free

Chrystia Freeland says carbon rebate for small businesses will be tax-free
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the Canada carbon rebate for small businesses will be tax-free. In a statement posted to X late Tuesday, Freeland clarified the parameters of the program after an advocacy group for small business raised concerns that the rebate would be a taxable benefit.

Chrystia Freeland says carbon rebate for small businesses will be tax-free

Swearing-in ceremonies at B.C. legislature mark start of new political season

Swearing-in ceremonies at B.C. legislature mark start of new political season
The two Greens — lawyer Rob Botterell, representing Saanich North and the Islands, and geological engineer Jeremy Valeriote, of West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, who were elected on Oct. 19 in a tight election race — could play pivotal roles in the legislature, where Premier David Eby's New Democrats hold a slim one-seat majority.

Swearing-in ceremonies at B.C. legislature mark start of new political season

Trump's appointees have criticized Trudeau, warned of border issues with Canada

Trump's appointees have criticized Trudeau, warned of border issues with Canada
Donald Trump's second administration is filling up with some of his most loyal supporters and many of the people landing top jobs have been critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and security at Canada's border. One expert says there are not many Canadian allies, so far, in the president-elect's court.

Trump's appointees have criticized Trudeau, warned of border issues with Canada

RCMP say three men arrested in B.C. have ties to Mexican drug cartels

RCMP say three men arrested in B.C. have ties to Mexican drug cartels
RCMP federal investigators have arrested three men in British Columbia they believe are connected to a transnational organized crime group connected to Mexican drug cartels bringing cocaine into Canada. They say officers also seized 23 firearms, several thousand rounds of ammunition and "multi-kilos of illicit drugs" from a home in Surrey, B.C.

RCMP say three men arrested in B.C. have ties to Mexican drug cartels

3 charged in a drug operation in Richmond

3 charged in a drug operation in Richmond
Police in Metro Vancouver say three people have been charged after a multi-year investigation into an alleged drug trafficking operation in Richmond. R-C-M-P say the probe began in November 2021, and searches at multiple properties in that city, as well as Vancouver, turned up some 15-hundred tablets of alleged M-D-M-A as well as 3.6 kilograms of methamphetamine.

3 charged in a drug operation in Richmond

Report details anti-Black racism in the public service, calls for commissioner

Report details anti-Black racism in the public service, calls for commissioner
A government-funded report says Black executives within the public service are subjected to harassment and intimidation, career stagnation, unjust workloads and, as one executive wrote, a "cesspool of racism." Lawyer Rachel Zellars, who authored the report for the Black Executives Network, wrote that the interviews she conducted with 73 participants were the "most distressing" she has witnessed and recorded. Of the 73 people she interviewed, 63 are current employees.

Report details anti-Black racism in the public service, calls for commissioner