Quebec Swifties get ready to hit the Eras Tour in Toronto
Taylor Swift is set to perform the first of six sold-out Eras Tour Toronto shows on Thursday, and Swifties from Quebec are hitting the road ready to spend whatever it takes to see the global superstar.
Alison Henstridge gave her eight-year-old daughter Adelaide a ticket as a surprise birthday present.
"Keeping a secret for nine months is incredibly difficult with an eight-year-old," she said. "When you're excited to share something so big."
Henstridge struck out trying to get tickets to Swift's concert, but she eventually scored tickets through a friend for $600 apiece.
"Compared to what StubHub is selling my section for on the night that I'm going, they're going for $5,000 a ticket right now," she said.
The lowest price on StubHub for single tickets is over $2,300 as of Wednesday evening.
Henstridge, Adelaide and her grandma will leave with handmade costumes and cut costs by staying with family in Toronto's suburbs.
"I really hope she gets to experience girlhood," said Henstridge. "Like the trading of the friendship bracelets just to really see that the world is a great place."
Toronto is expecting around 240,000 concertgoers, but the estimated number of tourists the city expects could be as high as half a million.
There are huge lines at the Rogers Centre as of Wednesday for Swift merch, and Destination Toronto says the economic impact for the city is expected to be around $300 million.
"When visitors come into the city for an event like Taylor Swift's Eras tour, they typically, are going to go to the concert, which is very exciting, but they typically will participate in other activities as well," said Destination Toronto senior manager of corporate communications Kathy Motton.
"So they're going to eat at all the various diverse restaurants that the city has. They're hopefully going to go into all of our neighborhoods."
The economic benefits are ones that Montreal will miss out on because of the city's lack of a decent stadium.
The Olympic Stadium (the Big O) is being repaired and likely wouldn't have met the needs of Swift's tour.
Henstridge is not letting the six-hour drive down Highway 401 get her down.
"On the bright side, I get to have a road trip with my daughter, and I get to have a, like, a mommy-daughter weekend with grandma, which is going to be pretty cool, too," she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Ukraine now has long-range missiles and Russia rewrote its nuclear policy. Are we on the verge of atomic warfare?
The four-year-old document has a bland, bureaucratic title — 'Basic Principles of State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence' — but its contents are chilling, especially with its newest revisions.
NDP MP calls on Boissonnault to resign over false claims to Indigenous identity
A Métis member of Parliament is calling on the employment minister to resign over what he calls harmful false claims to Indigenous ancestry.
Trump chooses TV doctor Mehmet Oz to lead Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday tapped Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former television talk show host and heart surgeon, to head the agency that oversees health insurance programs for millions of older, poor and disabled Americans.
'I'm just tickled pink': Two childhood friends from New Brunswick named Rhodes Scholars
Two young women from New Brunswick have won one of the most prestigious and sought-after academic honours in the world.
Swiftie's friendship bracelet beads confiscated at Calgary airport
A Canadian Taylor Swift fan has some 'Bad Blood' with the Calgary International Airport after security staff confiscated hundreds of dollars worth of beads she was going to use to make friendship bracelets.
Anonymous male celebrity files extortion lawsuit against attorney representing Sean 'Diddy' Combs accusers
An anonymous male celebrity says he is the victim of an extortion scheme and is suing a high-powered Texas attorney who is representing several people in civil lawsuits that accuse Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual assault.
Woman charged after Ontario toddler dies from drug toxicity
A 40-year-old woman is facing charges in the death of a toddler who was found without vital signs in a Niagara Falls, Ont., home last year. Niagara regional police say officers found the two-year-old child after they were called to a home on Nov. 21, 2023.
Watch Cruise ship tilts, causing panic as 'Titanic' song plays
Cruise ship passengers got a scare when their vessel tilted sideways, with one man saying the theme song for the film 'Titanic' had played during the ordeal.
What three storms impacting the country have in common
A trifecta of storm systems is impacting Canada this week. A 'bomb' cyclone is bringing severe wind to coastal B.C, while a Texas low has triggered snow and winter storm warnings in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. On the east coast, a stalled area of low pressure has put Atlantic Canada into several days of cloudy, damp, and windy weather.