WEST WARWICK -- Rhode Island's newest celebrity resident, Taylor Swift, is stepping in to help West Warwick celebrate its centennial next month.
The pop idol has donated a new autographed "Baby Taylor" guitar from her vast merchandize company that will be auctioned off Sept. 20th during the town's centennial ball at the West Valley Inn.
"I just think it's so cool that the first person out of the gates to support our efforts is our new Rhode Islander," said former West Warwick mayor J. Michael Levesque on Monday as he lifted the signed instrument from its case. (Swift recently purchased a $17 million mansion in Westerly.) "We should be able to raise a significant amount of money for some very needy West Warwick charities with this very thoughtful and generous donation."
Levesque, who is co-chairing the centennial ball, said the guitar is just one of numerous items that will be up for grabs during the black tie optional event.
All proceeds of the silent auction will go toward a West Warwick High School scholarship, he said, and The Station Fire Memorial Fund. The fund is building a memorial at the town site of The Station nightclub, which burned in 2003 killing 100 concert goers and injuring more than 200 others.
Levesque runs a consulting business which does work with MTV. Through affiliations with the entertainment network, Levesque said he reached out to Swift's publicity agent and asked whether the singer might want to help support the town's charities.
Like most people in the music business, Levesque said Swift's representative was very familiar with the Station fire.
West Warwick is Rhode Island's youngest incorporated community. Once the center of the state's economy - powered by mills that employed tens of thousands of European and Canadian immigrants - it broke off from the rest of rural Warwick in 1913.
The ball is just one of several events being planned for the town's centennial. For more information visit www.wwturns100.webs.com.
Levesque said Swift signed the face of the guitar in the last month. "She is a Rhode Islander and now she is an official Rhode Islander because of her linkage to West Warwick, which we all know is the Mecca of the universe."