'Breaking Dawn' release much anticipated in Forks

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

“Twilight” fans by the hundreds are flocking to Forks.

Download Twilight Guide pdf here

Tourism promoters and local retailers are saying the town of Forks is now a main attraction, no longer a sidelight, a place to dine and stay for visitors to the Hoh Rain Forest, or Pacific coast.

The town has a unique, fictional and non-fictional identity that’s being established around the world through the Twilight mania.

The next milestone in this movement comes as the phenomenon is beginning to have a noticeable financial impact on the economy of Forks.

This week in the world outside the West End hundreds of thousands of the fans are anxiously awaiting the Aug. 2 release of “Breaking Dawn,” the fourth and final (maybe) volume in the Forks and LaPush-set, internationally-best selling young adult book series.

Local stores are gearing up to mark the release of Breaking Dawn, which is set to go on sale at precisely 12:01 a.m., Sat., Aug. 2.

On Twilight fan Web sites announcements of Breaking Dawn events show themed costume balls, major radio station tie-ins and more from coast to coast.

In Forks retailers up and down Forks Avenue are benefiting from the attention the book series has brought to the rural town.
Bruce Paul of Forks Outfitters said his family’s store is seeing a lot of Twilight visitors, and that other retailers are reporting similar boosts to their businesses. He said Forks High School Spartan gear is selling well, as well as Twilight-themed T-shirts the store has created, and a selection of Twilight books.

The Thriftway side of Forks Outfitters is prominently mentioned in the book series as the grocery store where main characters shop. On Saturday, fans sitting in cars displaying homemade Twilight signs could be seen snacking in the store parking lot. The site has become common place over the past six months.

All four of the books are top-sellers on Amazon.com. However, buying a copy in Forks makes copies of the books sold here something special, said Joanne Allen, owner of the Fern Gallery in downtown Forks.

She said the Twilight fan activity in town has helped boost tourism in a summer of high gas prices. There are noticeably less motor homes on the road going through town, Allen said.

The gallery owner said she plans to open her store one minute past midnight, then possibly reopen at dawn to mark the “Breaking Dawn” in Forks.

“I can’t even show the book to employees,” she said due to a non-disclosure agreement retailers must sign.

“People are already e-mailing the chamber about the event,” said Allen, who plans to serve cookies. “It should be an action-filled night in Forks.”

Allen is bringing in new Twilight-related products including totes and fleece shirts. One product popular with Twilight visitors is her exclusive selection of Forks Spartans T-shirts produced by the ASB at Forks High School, with all proceeds going to help the students.

On the south side of town, the Forks Chamber of Commerce is serving as the Twilight gateway for visiting fans.
Chamber Executive Director Marcia Bingham said Friday that on many days this summer between 100 and 120 Twilight visitors are stopping at the Forks Visitor Information Center on South Forks Avenue. About 90 percent of the visitors are Twilight fans and accompanying family and friends.

An Australian visitor told Bingham she wouldn’t have put Washington state on her travel itinerary if it wasn’t for Forks and Twilight.

Watch for a 1953 Chevy pickup to be permanently parked in the visitor center parking lot. City of Forks Councilman and Sully’s restaurant manager Bruce  Guckenberg is working on the project, and is having the vintage pickup painted a burgundy red to match a similar pickup driven by lead Twilight character Bella.

Visitor center manager Mike Gurling has created a series of Twilight trivia quizzes that are proving fun for visitors, and becoming collectables.

On Saturday at the opening of the Forks Skate Park Guckenberg related his own Twilight tales. He said an Australian visitor was overheard calling back home on her cell phone, proudly saying she was in Forks and beaming off a cell phone photo of the Sully’s Bella Burger sign.

Guckenberg said on one recent day he sold over 75 of the Bella Burgers, going through cans of the pineapple slices featured on the burger.

He said the steady stream of Twilight visitors have provided a noticeable boost in business.

The Subway restaurant in the Evergreen 76 station is also selling a special Twilight-themed sandwich, and JT’s Sweet Stuffs has candy vampire teeth and other Twilight items.

Chinook Pharmacy, Pura Carlson is staging what her staff is calling the “Midnight Party” to celebrate the release of Breaking Dawn in the wee hours of Aug. 2.

“We are contributing to the excitement,” Carlson said.

Her party plans hinge on the weather. Chilly means hot cocoa, hot will bring out the Twilight punch.

Carlson said anything with the word “Forks” on it is selling. A new T-shirt design is on the way, aimed at Breaking Dawn fans.

Her products include a Twilight scone mix that comes in a reusable vampireish black tote bag.

Chinook Pharmacy is on their second composition book of Forks fans comments. They include notes from a Scottish grandmother who came into the store with her son and two granddaughters. The elderly Scot told the Chinook Pharmacy staff that her trip to the United States was likely her last one. “You pick,” the lady had told her granddaughters?anywhere in the world you’d like to go,” and the girls chose Forks.

Package tours are also on the way. Bingham said the University of Washington Bookstore has paid for seats on the Twilight Tour as prizes in a drawing coinciding with the release of Breaking Dawn in Seattle. The grand prize includes a stay in Forks.

The Breaking Dawn event is likely just a warm-up leading up to the release of the movie version of “Twilight,” the first novel in the series and the book that put Forks on the teenage romance fan list. The movie starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson is scheduled for release on Dec. 12. Posters for the film are on the walls of multiplexes across the country, an ad for the film appears in NetFlix wrappers and a trailer for Twilight the movie is being included in recent DVD movie releases.

There’s no word yet about a Forks premiere showing and related events, but you can bet there is already interest in Forks and out of town.


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