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Fans swarmed a Connecticut restaurant looking for Taylor Swift. They found her scarecrow instead.
Hundreds of fans crowded outside Elm restaurant in New Canaan for hours amid rumors that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were dining there for lunch.
Hundreds of Taylor Swift fans spent hours waiting outside a Connecticut restaurant on Thursday amidst rumors that the pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce were dining inside.
Instead, they found Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce scarecrows.
Elm, a New American restaurant in New Canaan, Conn., was swarmed early Thursday afternoon by fans of all ages hoping to catch a glimpse of Swift, Kelce, and — according to one variation of the rumor — actor couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, who own a home in nearby Westchester County.
Photos and videos showed fans camped outside the restaurant until well past sunset.
@kamiskloud The crowd packed New Canaan for a glimpse of @Taylor Swift and @Blake Lively Official ♬ …Ready For It? – Taylor Swift
According to the New Canaan Advertiser, a member of Elm’s staff repeatedly told the crowd that Swift was not there.
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However, the restaurant’s decision to move its pickup orders outside and lock the doors to the restaurant to prevent crowds from surging inside reportedly made many in the crowd more suspicious.
At around 4:30 p.m., the police and fire departments showed up in an attempt to disperse crowds, to little effect, per the Advertiser.
How did the Taylor Swift dining rumor get started?
An irate manager at Elm told The Daily Voice that “a mom started the rumor and it just went crazy.”
“I swear Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are not here and were not here,” the manager said, per the publication. “I would tell you if they were.”
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A New Canaan mother interviewed by The Advertiser outside of the restaurant supported the “mom rumor” theory.
“One of my friends texted in our little mom group chat that they heard Taylor Swift was in town eating lunch, so from that moment on, it has been crowded out here. It slowly got more crowded even though people were like, ‘Oh no, she left; she’s not here,'” Farris said. “And then I saw all the teens running from store-to-store like it was a treasure hunt, but she was not at any of those places. Now, everyone is back to square one hoping that she’ll come out.”
Seemingly adding fuel to the rumor mill was a series of tweets from an account on X insisting that Swift and Kelce were in New Canaan.
How does the Taylor Swift scarecrow fit into all of this?
One hilarious suggestion was that the rumor of Swift and Kelce visiting Elm for lunch started because of a misunderstanding about scarecrows dressed like Swift and Kelce hanging outside the restaurant.
Think this is what they are referring to … local scarecrow contest pic.twitter.com/K9FgoCYz40
— Mrs. Anybody (@lsopes) October 19, 2023
The scarecrows were there as part of an upcoming festival presented by The Young Women’s League of New Canaan, which uses the event to help raise money for charity.
“We are THRILLED that this year’s annual Scarecrow Fest is making WORLD NEWS!!!,” the organization wrote on Instagram. “Thank you to ALL the participants who made scarecrows to support this awesome fundraiser which benefits the Young Women’s League giving fund!”
So was Taylor Swift actually in Connecticut?
Ultimately, all signs point to the rumor of Swift eating lunch at Elm restaurant in New Canaan on Thursday being 100 percent false.
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People magazine published photos of Swift with pals Selena Gomez and Zoë Kravitz later that day in Los Angeles — meaning Swift would have had to eat lunch, sneak out of the restaurant undetected, and fly across the country in a matter of hours.
Kelce, meanwhile, was at practice in Kansas City on Thursday afternoon, making that part of the rumor impossible.
New Canaan residents seemed to be taking the news in stride on Friday.
“Thanks to @taylorswift, we stumbled upon the magic on Elm Street,” one resident wrote on Instagram. “My girls and I dived into a whirlwind of new friendships, contagious giggles, and awesome parent meet-ups. It was an afternoon of just amusement for everyone.”
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