‘Twilight’ author celebration expected to draw hundreds of visitors

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

Fans of the Forks-set teen vampire best-seller “Twilight” are invited to take part in a day of related festivities on Saturday, Sept. 13.

Mayor Nedra Reed is again proclaiming the day as Stephenie Meyer Day in honor of the author of the international best seller. Dozens of “Twilight” fans turned up in Forks on Friday night Aug. 1 for the release of the “Breaking Dawn,” the last book in the four-book “Twilight” series. Similar gatherings were held at book stores and shopping centers across the nation.
Meyer, who lives near Phoenix, visited Forks in 2006 to sign books and see first-hand local settings she employed in her books. She discovered Forks on an Internet Google search when she sought a rainy, coastal, forest area as a setting for her first novel, “Twilight.”

The Forks Chamber of Commerce is heading up the festivities set for the day, which are taking place on the birthday of the fictional Forks High School student Bella Swan.

Forks Chamber Executive Director Marcia Bingham is encouraging local and visiting “Twilight” fans to dress up as how they think Bella (a fictional Forks High School girl) or Edward (Bella’s vampire boyfriend who is also a Forks High student) or Jacob (a Quileute teenager who lives at LaPush) would.

In the works are a day-full of “Twilight” activities including a performance by a “Twilight” theme band from Texas, the reading of a proclamation by Mayor Reed, passing out of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by Forks Police Chief Mike Powell and a birthday cake for Bella at Forks Library.

Bingham is working with the Quileute Tribe on holding a wolf dance at the Akalat Center at LaPush and a bonfire and storytelling time on Saturday evening at First Beach.

A gathering of costumed fans is set for 1:30 p.m. at Tillicum Park.