Timeshare realtors in North Florida are turning the new song into a financial opportunity, while Destin’s mayor says he wants to use the ‘T-Swizzle’ attention to fund the arts.
Destin , Florida , the classy , pearl earring - fag out sure-enough sister of its Thornton Niven Wilder and perhaps more well - known Panhandle counterpartPanama City Beach , has garner one of the modern humans ’s top accomplishments : a mention in aTaylor Swiftsong . In “ Florida ! ! ! ” off of her new record album , The Tortured Poets Department , Swift and Florence Welch croon :
So you work your life forth just to payFor a time - share down in Destin ( Take me to Florida )
The lyric did n’t go unnoticed by the town itself . Destin ’s mayor , Bobby Wagner , tell Thrillist that he woke up on April 19 , just hour afterTortured Poets Departmentwas released , to hundred of notification about the song .
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“ I was not indisputable exactly what was proceed on , but I quickly agnise that Taylor dropped an album last nighttime , ” Wagner recalls . “ We ’re passing honored to be the only city that was mentioned in her ‘ Florida ’ call . I believe it ’s an awesome moody song and we were just very glad and excited to be a part of the T - Swizzle biotic community . ”
Now , he and other staff working for the masses of Destin , Okaloosa County , and the neighboring Ithiel Town of Fort Walton Beach , are scrambling to take advantage on the moment and prepare for the impact . Destin - Fort Walton Beach ’s touristry director , Jennifer Adams , was vertiginous when she describe the inflammation in her role about Swift ’s name drop cloth .
“ We ’ve not only seen more hunt on Google , but we ’ve had a lot of inquiries into the welcome center , ” Adams suppose . “ And quite a little of local . Everybody really , really seems very pleased . We ’re thrilled . ”
The emerald waters and white sand beaches in Destin, Florida.|Romona Robbins Photography/Image Source/Getty Images
Destin , a picturesque metropolis nuzzle along 30A , a main road that stretches down the Panhandle ’s coast , is n’t a stranger to tourists — or even famous people . The neighboring beachtown of Seaside , Florida , was the filming placement forThe Truman Show(1998 ) , and Adams detailed that just lately , controversial country artist Jason Aldean shoot a music video in town .
Plus , Mayor Wagner told Thrillist that 60 % of Destin ’s economy comes from touristry . But even with a steady influx of out - of - towners , Destin does n’t have the infrastructure for a trueSwift Lift .
That does n’t mean Wagner is n’t try out to appropriate this once in a lifetime opportunity . Swift sang about Destin — not Cocoa Beach or New Smyrna Beach or Appalachacola , after all .
“ Naturally we ’re trying to reach out to her , ” Wagner says . “ Granted , we could never lodge the amount of mass for a tour . I mean , you ’d really see a failure of gridlock traffic if we were to seek to host a Taylor Swift concert in Destin . ”
Instead , Wagner is trying to take the focus aside from the Destin timeshares with however many bit of fame the city does have . “ I absolutely abide by her art and can certify because my fiance ’s a ballad maker — but , well , I opine we have one timeshare group in Destin , ” Wagner says . “ We have 14,000 local anaesthetic that know here . So while she mentions timeshares , we are definitely much more than timeshares . ”
Adams echoed this sentiment , saying that her favourite part of “ Florida ! ! ! ” was an entirely dissimilar lyric . “ I know she says timeshare , but I think one of the strongest things she says is when she observe that when you make out here , you ’re a guest , ” Adams says . “ We host 8 million guests a twelvemonth . So when she pronounce , ‘ you come as a guest , ’ you do make out as a guest . ”
Wagner himself is a trump player with a impregnable appreciation for music and music teaching ; he look music programs at the local public schools . He hope that while he has the attention of Swifties from around the worldly concern , he can get hoi polloi to support local medicine programme , even if they do n’t plan on visiting the white sand beach and emerald Gulf Coast water .
“ We ’re really hoping to use this new exposure and potentially some of her jabber fans to just bring consciousness to bringing more music to nipper of all ages in Destin and Okaloosa County , ” Wagner read . He suggests Swifties regard sustain theMattie Kelly Arts Foundation , which focuses on bringing euphony computer program and education to underserved kids in North Florida .
Taylor Swift is now good for North Florida tourism
authorities functionary in Destin were n’t the only ones excited about the local namedrop . Timeshare real estate agents in the area quickly bound on the lyric bandwagon to — you opine it — sell more time shares .
" Destin is one the country ’s great beach destination and is often overlooked . We ’re excited that people will be research our residential area , ” Erin Maloney , General Manager , Club Wyndham Beach Street Cottages , told Thrillist in a statement .
And outside of metropolis limits , other neighboring cities are angling for a firearm of the Proto-Indo European .
“ It ’s funny because even our neighbors are posting , ' Hey , Destin ’s great , but why do n’t you come to Pensacola ? ' ” Adams say . “ We all jest around , but we ’re not competitive . We care to have masses know who Northwest Florida is . We ’re a tight - knit region . ”
Destin locals have mixed feelings about getting the shout out from Taylor Swift
Destin might be a popular tourist finish , but it ’s still a small southern Ithiel Town at centre . In the Facebook groupLet ’s public lecture Destin , I asked local occupier what their idea were on getting a shoutout from one of the most famed cleaning lady in the world . There were some , like local Layne Franks , who but “ could n’t care less . ”
Others were surprised that a little city in Florida would make it to Swift ’s radar . “ I was expecting her to say something about Miami possibly but was not expecting Destin , ” Ashley Byrneswrote . In worldwide , local anesthetic were occupy over an added influx of tourists . Even Mayor Wagner acknowledge that more tourist could equal more traffic . “ While tourism does create traffic , it is also part of our life line , ” Wagner says .
“ It ’s part of the thriftiness and having people do to Destin and see for whatever they require is where we all make our living , ” Wagner retain . “ So it ’s a balance and I mean the Taylor Swift Army would be great tourists to come check us out . ”
But , if you do n’t require to get stuck in classic summer beach traffic in Destin , Adams recommends visiting another time of the year . “ We do have a bunch of people coming in the summer , but I also recommend descend in the fall and the spring . The beach is open year round . ”
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