As the eyes of the world prepare to train on New York’s Madison Square Garden for the star-studded wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, city officials plan to deploy a “significant force” of outreach workers around the arena, starting Thursday, to keep a watch on homeless people in the area.
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TMZ reported the deployment Wednesday, with a city official insisting to the entertainment outlet that the Department of Homeless Services employees won’t be trying to remove unhoused people or their encampments from Midtown Manhattan, which also includes nearby Penn Station. The deployment, instead, is driven by concerns about dangerous heat that’s expected to descend on New York this weekend, with temperatures forecast to climb to the 90s and even hit 100 degrees, TMZ reported.
The pop mega-star and her Super Bowl champion groom, both 36, have filed a permit with the city, asking for street closures around the Garden from July 2 to July 4, Page Six reported. Kenneth Corey, a former NYPD official, told the New York Times that hundreds of police officers will likely be needed to keep crowds safe outside the arena, in addition to the private security team Swift has hired. TMZ also reported that the National Guard already is present.
“There is nothing comparable to her level of stardom and her fan base — you’re on the level of Elvis, Michael Jackson or the Beatles in their heyday,” Corey said. “I was at the N.Y.P.D. for almost 35 years, and there was no wedding near this scale.”
The festivities reportedly begin Thursday evening, with what’s been described as an intimate gathering of about 100 people in the Infosys Theater at the Garden, the New York Times also said. A “loose-lipped” NYPD officer, who told the Daily Mail they had been told to not say anything about the wedding, nonetheless revealed that the Thursday event is a rehearsal dinner.
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Page Six reported that the wedding itself, with more than 1,000 guests, will take place Friday, with the doors opening for guests at 3:30 pm. and the cocktail hour beginning at 4 p.m. on the 6th-floor concourse. The ceremony is expected to start at 5:30 p.m. on the arena floor. A big, splashy reception kicks off at 6:30 p.m and will continue until 2 a.m. The guest list reportedly includes Selena Gomez, Karlie Kloss, Zoë Kravitz, Ed Sheeran, the Haim sisters, Suki Waterhouse and Gigi Hadid, along with some of Kelce’s Kansas City Chief’s teammates. Stevie Nicks and Tim McGraw are expected to perform.
In the past couple days, trucks have been unloading boxes and equipment at the arena, including what appeared to be pieces of a “a massive castle,” which will somehow be part of the setting for the wedding, as Page Six said.
Workers also have been draping the arena with fabric hanging from the ceiling. But after they rolled out a red carpet in front of the arena, they were told to remove it, TMZ also reported. They had to start over again and roll out a purple carpet instead, with the color in line with Swift’s aesthetic and likely inspired by her love song, “Lavender Haze,” TMZ said.
As for the homeless people in the area, TMZ said city officials are particularly concerned about their well-being between noon and 8 p.m., when the heat generally becomes the most intense and wedding activity around the Garden will be busiest. The 200-person outreach team will be working throughout the city, but focusing most on the blocks surrounding the Garden. Their job will be to inform unhoused people about the city’s “Code Red” heat emergency and encourage them to head to shelters or cooling centers, TMZ said.
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