Parisa Sadrzadeh, left, and Yena Hu walk past Forks High School, where some of author Stephenie Meyers' vampire-themed "Twilight" books are set।
By WHITNEY MALKIN
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
FORKS, Wash. Pounding rain and heavy mist are constant in this timber town where logging’s decline left a graveyard of rusting timber mills and unemployment. Businesses shut down. Parts of the local high school were condemned. Families started to drift away.
Until an unlikely cast of vampires breathed new life into the town.
“I fell in love with it,” says 18-year-old Samantha Cogar, who dragged her grandparents on a 2,500 mile roadtrip to Forks from Louisville, Ky., earlier this summer. “I can’t wait to go back.”
Cogar is one of thousands of visitors who have flocked to Forks in response to “Twilight,” the hottest series to hit shelves since “Harry Potter.” Set in Forks, on the gritty edge of the Olympic Mountain Range, the books have captured the hearts of readers around the world.
In a town framed by towering Douglas fir, hemlock and spruce and the occasional western red cedar, where rough, blue collar edges are tangible, the unexpected attention seems to be a second chance for the economy. Inspired by a world of make-believe, “Twilight” fans are bringing the town back to life.
Four years ago, author Stephenie Meyer introduced the world to Bella Swan, a 17-year-old who moves to Forks and is torn between the love of classmate Edward Cullen and best friend Jacob Black. But before long, she realizes something isn’t right: Edward is a vampire and Jacob, a werewolf.
Readers were hooked, and three more “Twilight” books followed. “Breaking Dawn,” the fourth and final book of her “Twilight” series, came out in August and has remained at the top of best-seller lists ever since. Teens throughout the country celebrated the release of the book by dressing up as characters from the series for midnight parties at bookstores — much the way “Harry Potter” books are launched.
As the pages kept coming, the series’ cultlike following increased. Before long, fans started showing up in Forks, looking to see if magic would spark when imagination collided with reality. What they found was a two-stoplight town where more than a foot of rain falls each year. A place where success is measured in sweat and four-wheel drive.
But Forks was quick to embrace the frenzied fans.
Forks’ “Twilight”-inspired turn has been nothing short of magical, Marcia Bingham, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, says.
“We’ve probably had more than 100 people a day,” says Bingham, who has eagerly watched as van after van of giddy readers — mostly female — pull up in front of the town’s visitors center.
For many fans, the line where reality ends and imagination begins is starting to blur, says Michael Gurling, who caught inspiration from the tourism boom and started his own Twilight Tours.
After enlisting a few locals, he asked for help in picking out houses that could serve as stand-ins for the book’s famous Forks’ stops: Bella and Edward’s houses, a field where vampires play baseball. Other locations, such as the police station, where Bella’s father works, and the hospital, where Edward’s father is a doctor, play their own parts. They chipped in, providing cruisers near which fans may take pictures and reserving a spot for “Dr. Cullen” in the parking lot.
“The most popular spot is probably the beach, in LaPush, where Bella finds out the truth about Edward,” says Gurling.
Until an unlikely cast of vampires breathed new life into the town.
“I fell in love with it,” says 18-year-old Samantha Cogar, who dragged her grandparents on a 2,500 mile roadtrip to Forks from Louisville, Ky., earlier this summer. “I can’t wait to go back.”
Cogar is one of thousands of visitors who have flocked to Forks in response to “Twilight,” the hottest series to hit shelves since “Harry Potter.” Set in Forks, on the gritty edge of the Olympic Mountain Range, the books have captured the hearts of readers around the world.
In a town framed by towering Douglas fir, hemlock and spruce and the occasional western red cedar, where rough, blue collar edges are tangible, the unexpected attention seems to be a second chance for the economy. Inspired by a world of make-believe, “Twilight” fans are bringing the town back to life.
Four years ago, author Stephenie Meyer introduced the world to Bella Swan, a 17-year-old who moves to Forks and is torn between the love of classmate Edward Cullen and best friend Jacob Black. But before long, she realizes something isn’t right: Edward is a vampire and Jacob, a werewolf.
Readers were hooked, and three more “Twilight” books followed. “Breaking Dawn,” the fourth and final book of her “Twilight” series, came out in August and has remained at the top of best-seller lists ever since. Teens throughout the country celebrated the release of the book by dressing up as characters from the series for midnight parties at bookstores — much the way “Harry Potter” books are launched.
As the pages kept coming, the series’ cultlike following increased. Before long, fans started showing up in Forks, looking to see if magic would spark when imagination collided with reality. What they found was a two-stoplight town where more than a foot of rain falls each year. A place where success is measured in sweat and four-wheel drive.
But Forks was quick to embrace the frenzied fans.
Forks’ “Twilight”-inspired turn has been nothing short of magical, Marcia Bingham, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, says.
“We’ve probably had more than 100 people a day,” says Bingham, who has eagerly watched as van after van of giddy readers — mostly female — pull up in front of the town’s visitors center.
For many fans, the line where reality ends and imagination begins is starting to blur, says Michael Gurling, who caught inspiration from the tourism boom and started his own Twilight Tours.
After enlisting a few locals, he asked for help in picking out houses that could serve as stand-ins for the book’s famous Forks’ stops: Bella and Edward’s houses, a field where vampires play baseball. Other locations, such as the police station, where Bella’s father works, and the hospital, where Edward’s father is a doctor, play their own parts. They chipped in, providing cruisers near which fans may take pictures and reserving a spot for “Dr. Cullen” in the parking lot.
“The most popular spot is probably the beach, in LaPush, where Bella finds out the truth about Edward,” says Gurling.
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