Twilight Beginnings:When Stephenie Meyer Visited Forks in 2006
Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 31, 2025
It was a summer afternoon nearly two decades ago—July 20, 2006 to be exact—when something sort of quietly happened in Tillicum Park. Under the wooden arches of the Ben Dome, a rising star in the literary world sat down to read aloud from a book that was beginning to bring serious buzz. Her name? Stephenie Meyer. The book? Twilight.
Meyer had first visited Forks in 2004 while seeking locations for the story forming in her mind. At that time, the working title was simply Forks, a nod to our misty town that inspired her. The book hit shelves in 2005, and by the summer of 2006, its mix of teen romance and vampire fantasy was already turning heads. The Forks Forum had announced her upcoming visit with a modest front-page story, while a book review on page 7 by Deborah Dillon offered early local insight into the tale that would soon launch a global phenomenon.
Dillon described Twilight as a fun read but noted the heavy use of gloomy adjectives—dismal, dreary, drippy, and dark—which might scare off tourists. Of course, we know now that it had quite the opposite effect. Even back in 2006, fans came from as far as Texas, California, and Delaware to see the woman behind the book. The Twilight train had left the station.
Dillon also took issue with Meyer’s portrayal of the Forks Library as “poorly stocked,” suggesting the author must not have actually set foot in it during her 2004 visit. But Meyer got a firsthand look during her July 20 book signing, at the Library where people stood in line several hours to meet her.
Library Director Theresa Osborne, Mayor Nedra Reed, Chamber Director Marsha Bingham, and Police Chief Mike Powell were all on hand at Tillicum Park that day. In a special ceremony, Mayor Reed read a proclamation declaring July 20, 2006 “Stephenie Meyer Day” in Forks. Reed did take polite exception to some of the book’s gloomy descriptors but emphasized how honored the town was to serve as the backdrop for a novel that had already started capturing imaginations across the country.
A Forks Forum article, by Carole Rose, even noted that Meyer was presented with her very own Forks Library card.
It was announced last week that Stephenie Meyer will be back in Forks in September, hope she remembers to bring her Library card!
Christi Baron, Editor
