Taylor Swift in Gelsenkirchen: Excitement over “Swiftkirchen” signs

The colorful “Swiftkirchen” place-name signs for pop star Taylor Swift’s visit to Gelsenkirchen are attracting a lot of attention. “Some have already disappeared,” said Sandra Falkenauer, head of city marketing. The signs are often hung quite high, also to prevent theft.

Since the beginning of July, the city had put up 30 “Swiftkirchen” signs at various locations in the city center. A schoolgirl had previously started a petition to temporarily rename Gelsenkirchen for the duration of Taylor Swift’s three concerts.

However, the campaign in honor of the US singer was apparently not met with enthusiasm everywhere. Some signs were covered up shortly after they were put up – for example with football stickers. Videos on social media in which the signs were presented led to heated discussions in the comment columns about the sense and nonsense of the renaming. Some users criticized that Gelsenkirchen had more important problems than the singer’s concerts.

Taylor Swift signs: City criticized negative comments

The city marketing department responded with a Facebook comment. “Wow, folks, that’s annoying! We understand that we have a lot of problems here in GE that we should solve. But: We clearly expect local patriotism and common sense from you,” they said. Gelsenkirchen is currently receiving a lot of positive attention. “But now it’s up to you to present ourselves to the world in a sensible way!”

Gelsenkirchen is expecting around 200,000 fans for the three Swift concerts on July 17, 18 and 19. Further German shows will take place afterwards in Hamburg and Munich.