'TWILIGHT' TOURS ROLL OUT

The Forks Chamber of Commerce’s Twilight Tours started up Saturday morning with a tour of sites in Forks and LaPush that serve as backdrops in the best-selling “Twilight” book series.

Twilight Tours guide and the Forks Chamber’s Visitor Information Center Manager Mike Gurling drove the tour and served as interpretive guide which lasted most of the morning.

“It was a huge success,” Forks Chamber Executive Director Marcia Bingham said on Monday. “Mike left at 9:20 with a full group. They wanted to stop everywhere for photo opportunities.”

Bingham said local residents are pitching in to accommodate the tour. Bill and Susan Brager, owners of the Miller Tree Inn, have added a sign on their mailbox alluding to the Cullen family living in the home that houses their bed and breakfast operation. The Cullens are a family of peaceful vampires and main characters in author Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling series. 

Home towns of tour riders included Columbus, Ohio and Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho plus Port Angeles and Joyce. The tours are scheduled to go out every Saturday morning at least through the summer. Guests from Ireland are booked on the next tour.

Gurling led a warm-up run of the tour Wednesday afternoon, June 4 with chamber members aboard. 

Bingham said Gurling is a natural to lead the tours, and is a retired interpretive guide with the Olympic National Park and a leading light with the Rainforest Players community theater group. 

The van used for logging and mill tours by the Forks Chamber of Commerce is being used for the tours. A Tuesday tour may go out if the tours prove popular with visiting fans.