FORKS — Tonight’s ball for vampire lovers will kick off two days of festivities celebrating the Twilight series of novels based in the West End.
Among the attractions for fans of the Twilight saga will be postal cancellations for Team Edward and Team Jacobs.
Bella’s Ball
Bella’s Ball — celebrating the books’ heroine, Bella Swan — will start at 9 p.m. at the Twilight Lounge, 81. N. Forks Ave.
Dress can be casual or formal.
Admission will be free and all ages will be admitted until 10 p.m.
The ball will end at 1 a.m.
And that will be just the beginning of the celebration of the fictional Bella Swan’s birthday during the fourth annual Stephenie Meyer Day weekend in Forks and LaPush.
Bella’s birthday, as imagined by author Stephenie Meyer in Twilight, the first of the four best-selling novels, is on Sept. 13, and Stephenie Meyer Day is held on the weekend closest to the date.
The official Stephenie Meyer Day will be declared on Saturday at Tillicum Park, 549 Tillicum Lane, where many of the weekend’s events will be held.
Despite the name of the event, Meyer will not be there.
More than 1,000 expected
The celebration is expected to draw more than 1,000 fans, said Forks Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Marcia Bingham.
“Every year we’re amazed at how many people show up — I wouldn’t be surprised to see more than 1,500,” she said.
Planned for the weekend are a free fashion show, tours of the remaining portions of Forks High School (which is under reconstruction), a look-alike contest, group photos, Quileute storytelling at First Beach in LaPush, the Bella Loves Books Book Sale, music in the park and a birthday cake for Bella.
On Sunday at 2:30 p.m., a drawing will decide the new owner of a replica of Bella’s 1963 pickup truck, which was donated by the Elwha River Casino of Port Angeles. To enter the drawing, visit www.elwharivercasino.com.
Just after the drawing, the Twilight Trivia Contest at 3 p.m. will end the weekend’s events.
Postmark
In addition to the Stephenie Meyer Day festivities, those visiting Forks can share a bit of the love for Twilight with those back home in the form of a postmark specially created for the weekend.
The postmark will be available for at least 30 days, said Forks Postmaster Ann Klepps.
The Forks Post Office and LaPush Post Office coordinated to create specialty red envelopes pre-postmarked with “Bella’s Birthday Bash,” “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob.”
Bella’s Birthday Bash and Team Edward postmarks tout the Forks ZIP code, 98331, and the Team Jacob postmark uses the LaPush ZIP code 98305, Klepps said.
The envelopes are sold for $4 each.
The post office team will be in the mobile unit at Tillicum Park throughout the weekend.
“People can mail things right from there,” Klepps said.
“If they have bought things that they are tired of carrying around, they can have them mailed to themselves at home.”
She said that with most airlines charging a baggage fee, visitors might have a deal mailing their treasures home.
“Especially the flat rate boxes are a great deal for that,” she said.
“It has been amazing — we’ve had an overwhelming amount of tourists in the past few years,” Klepps said.
Dazzled by Twilight
Dazzled by Twilight, 11 N. Forks Ave., will offer tours of Forks and various Twilight-related highlights from 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. today and between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday.
To sign up for the tour, which costs $39 per person, e-mail marketing@dazzledbytwilight.com. Space is limited, said Becky Scoggins, marketing director.
On Saturday, the store will offer a scavenger hunt from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
It is through text-messaging only. To get clues, text “dazzled” to 313131.
Those who get all answers correct will receive a commemorative T-shirt.
“We’ve had a fantastic response,” Scoggins said. “Well over 100 have signed up.”
The store also will offer — for a fee that had not yet been determined on Thursday, Scoggins said — letters from Forks, purportedly written by Twilight characters.
The store’s free fashion show will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Twilight Lounge, 81. N. Forks Ave. Anyone can join in, Scoggins said.
At 9 p.m. Saturday, the Mitch Hansen Band will perform at the Twilight Lounge. The concert is free.
For more information visit www.forkswa.com or phone 360-374-2531.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
