Swifties prep KC for Taylor Swift’s ‘move-in day’ ... by dusting, vacuuming Plaza

If you were one of those folks earlier this week who honked at a woman vacuuming a sidewalk on the Country Club Plaza, here’s the answer to your question: Why?

That was Dani Riley. She’s a senior loan officer at Fountain Mortgage in Prairie Village, where she and her colleagues really, really like Taylor Swift.

And with reports swirling that Swift might spend part of her current break from the Eras Tour in Kansas City with her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, they decided to have some social media fun.

They posted a video Wednesday to the company’s Instagram set to Swift’s “Cruel Summer” and captioned: “Getting Kansas City ready for Taylor’s move-in day.”

The video shows the women, three of them in dresses, cleaning the Plaza — sweeping a sidewalk, polishing statues, wiping windows and yes, even standing in and mucking out the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain, the most famous fountain in town.

“We were going to mop the middle of Ward Parkway. But there were too many cars,” Charity Ohlund, vice president of sales and marketing, told The Star, laughing.

She’s known as the biggest Swiftie in the office. She was at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium last summer when Swift’s ex-boyfriend, Taylor Lautner, joined her on stage. She listens to so much Swift music she is consistently in the top 1% of Swift-music listeners on Spotify’s annual ranking, she said.

The Plaza excursion was her idea. Every Tuesday the office works on its social media presence, making fun videos to show that in the — let’s face it, boring — world of mortgages they are more than just experts on APRs and escrow accounts. (The serious part? People do business with people they like.)

As it happens, several loan officers are devoted Swifties, too, who can’t wait to find out if all the talk of Swift spending time with Kelce at his home in Leawood for the next few weeks is true. Swift wrapped up the European leg of her tour in London this week and is on break until October.

“We thought there are probably thousands of Kansas Citians who are also eagerly anticipating Taylor’s return to KC and decided to put our spin on it,” said Ohlund, a fan since Swift’s “1989” album.

“We just wanted to do something fun to welcome Taylor to town,” said colleague Elisa Arzabala, who is busy helping her teenage daughter make friendship bracelets before school starts.

Ohlund, who had Bluetooth speakers installed in her newly remodeled bathroom for easier listening, said her husband didn’t care when she gushed to him, “She’s going to move into the Leawood mansion! She’s going to be here!”

But she knew her fellow Swifties at work would care. She thought about the mom rule of what to do when company’s coming.

So there they went, Tuesday afternoon, seven women from the office walking from one end of the Plaza to the other, starting at the penguin statues in front of J. Crew and ending at the J.C. Nichols fountain.

Intrepid senior loan officer Leah Smith climbed into the fountain with the pool net, but not before removing her blue high heels.

People honked as the women paraded around carrying a hedge trimmer, cleaning rags, a feather duster and dragging that vacuum cleaner.

“It was so funny because the security and cops kept watching ... what are they doing, what’s going on,” said Arzabala.

No need to worry, Ohlund told her colleagues. “We’re not doing anything wrong. We’re walking with vacuums.”

They included an Easter egg in the video for fellow Swifties, making sure to show Rye restaurant in the background as Riley pretended to vacuum a sidewalk. They know Swift has dined at the restaurant’s Leawood location.

They also know they’re not the only fans excited that Swift might grace Kansas City with her presence for a while. The superstar’s relationship with Kelce and the several trips she’s made to Kansas City since last year to watch him play shines “an extra spotlight” on the town,” Ohlund said.

“I think for a large segment, even those who aren’t her fans, they’re excited because of what it means for Kansas City, a renaissance era,” said Ohlund.

“Everybody, I think, in Kansas City is super onboard and happy that we get to have someone like her in town and everybody is embracing it nicely,” said Arzabala.