FORKS — The “Twilight” bash in Forks continues to grow, with more than 500 fans expected to flock into town today in anticipation of the release of the famed DVD at 12:01 a.m.
The Twilight mania will include two Forks stores, which will be open until the wee hours of Saturday morning in order to offer the DVD to fans in the town where the national series of teen romance best-sellers are set.
Dazzled by Twilight will hold a party at the Rainforest Arts Center at 35 Forks Ave. and Leppell’s Flowers and Gifts will remain open at 130 S. Spartan Ave. and offer the DVD at just past midnight.
Festivities will begin at 6 p.m., when all the stores throughout downtown Forks will stay open until 10 p.m. and feature their Twilight merchandise.
The Dazzled by Twilight event had previously been planned at the store, at 61 Forks Ave., but when more than 200 people initially sent RSVPs, owner Annette Root moved it to the center.
By Thursday, more than 500 people said they were coming, and the store tried unsuccessfully to secure a different location.
“It is so hard to know who will show up,” Root said.
“We didn’t require an RSVP, and we just left it open, so now we will just have to wait and see what happens.
“I did have one girl call and say she wouldn’t make it, but that is just one person. Who knows who will come?”
Root said that in addition the refreshments, camaraderie and excitement of the DVD release, she has a surprise for fans at midnight.
“It isn’t a person, though,” she said.
Tattoo artist Gary McCauley, from Fife, will be on site to give both real and fake tattoos, Root said.
Leppell’s, which is across the street from Forks High School, will also offer the DVD for fans at just after midnight and will be prepping for Saturday’s scavenger hunt, Charlene Cross, owner of the store, said.
The scavenger hunt includes 14 Twilight-related locations, which fans must find from clues.
Teams may be up to five people and must have their own means of transportation and a digital camera, Cross said.
Participants will be allowed one vehicle per team.
Registration for the scavenger hunt is between 10 and 11 a.m. on Saturday and the hunt starts at 1 p.m.
Those who return first will win umbrellas that tout the slogan “Forks, WA — where vampires rain.”
The Forks Visitor Center has seen between 1,400 and 2,000 visitors per month, even in the typically low-traffic months, chamber director Marcia Bingham said.
“Most of that is Twilight-related,” she said.
The movie is based on the best-selling book of the same name by Arizona author Stephenie Meyer.
The book details the romance between human Bella Swan, played in the movie by Kristen Stewart, and brooding vampire Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson.
Bella moves to Forks to live with her father — Forks Police Chief Charlie Swan — when her adventure with love and vampires begins.
The book is followed by three sequels — New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.
As for the movie versions, New Moon is being released Nov. 20 and Eclipse on June 30, 2010.
It is not clear whether the fourth book will be made into a movie.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
