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A spirit that is not afraid

Plainsman's Choice 2022 Best Bar Event: Skybar's 'Taylor Swift Night'

The Plainsman's Choice award for best bar event goes to "Taylor swift Night," hosted at SkyBar on March 16 and March 30.

<p>Taylor Swift night voted best bar event for Plainsman's Choice 2022.&nbsp;</p>

Taylor Swift night voted best bar event for Plainsman's Choice 2022. 

The votes are in, and this year’s Plainsman’s Choice award for best bar event goes to “Taylor Swift Night,” hosted by SkyBar Cafe in the heart of downtown Auburn. 

Students and members of the Auburn community danced the night away as some of Swift’s most famous hits and albums echoed down Magnolia Avenue.

The event, which was hosted for two nights on March 16 and March 30, featured a night full of songs from every Taylor Swift album, Taylor Swift trivia, prizes and even a showing of some of the singer-songwriter's most memorable moments in pop culture. 

Her most popular music videos were projected on a screen at the front of the stage, while Swift’s musical repertoire blasted from the speakers surrounding the dance floor.

Ben Bruud, DJ for the event, said the idea for the event started with one eager and determined Taylor Swift fan and was made possible by the reaction garnered on social media for the event.

“I had a girl obsessed with Taylor Swift keep asking me to do a Taylor Swift night,” Bruud said. “I kind of shrugged it off but she continued to ask me weekly and then showed me some Taylor Swift theme night videos from larger markets and I decided that maybe it wasn’t a bad idea.”

Bruud said before planning the event, he started to gauge interest by talking to the management at SkyBar and posting teasers for the event on social media. 

“It [the teaser] was just the letters T.S. in Taylor’s handwriting,” Bruud said. “The post was shared close to 3000 times within 24 hours. After that, I decided to go ahead and set a date and I created a ticketed event and posted it on SkyBar’s Instagram on a Sunday night.”

Within hours, the event sold out which prompted Bruud to make the decision to hold a second night for the event two weeks after the original date. 

Bruud said he began to prepare for the event by listening to all of Taylor Swift’s albums and through his research, he became a “Swiftie” himself. 

Sydney Close, employee of SkyBar who attended the event, said she attributes the success and popularity of the event to Ben Bruud and the popularity of Taylor Swift among college-aged students. 

“Honestly, Ben Bruud is just a really creative guy who’s so in touch with what college students who go downtown would like to see,” Close said. “I’m sure Taylor’s popularity was a factor in the inspiration for the event.”

Close said she got to experience some of the events while working her shift at SkyBar. 

“It was so fun to see how much everyone enjoyed the hard work that was put into it, especially the bartenders, security and other employees who were working that night,” Close said.


Kara Mautz | Culture Writer

Kara Mautz, senior in human development and family studies with a minor in journalism, is a culture writer at The Auburn Plainsman.


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