PORT ANGELES — North Olympic Peninsula agencies are gearing up for a busy summer of tourism — most of which is attributed to teen-phenomenon books and movies Twilight.
Marcia Bingham, executive director of the Forks Chamber of Commerce, told about 100 people at the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting Monday that already this year records are being shattered for numbers of visitors — and she expects the trend to continue throughout the summer.
“In April, we had 4,400 visitors,” she said.
“Over Memorial Day weekend, we had 1,400 people.
“This is breaking all the records we have ever had in Forks.”
Logging to Twilight
Diane Schostak, who was Bingham’s predecessor at the Forks chamber and is now the director of the Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau, said she recalls much of her job was fielding questions about the implications of logging.
“With Twilight, what Marcia does at the chamber is completely different from what I ever did,” she said.
The Forks Visitor Center has trained all of its employees to be Twilight-friendly, Bingham said.
“Every single one of them speaks fluent Twilight,” she said.
In November, a Twilight-only retail store opened in Forks, and the Port Angeles location opened its doors in April, Victoria McDonald, manager of the Port Angeles store, said.
Although the tale of Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen, is primarily set in Forks — vampires prefer the shade of rainy weather — there are critical scenes in Port Angeles as well.
The books, written by Arizona author Stephenie Meyer, emphasize the rainy weather of Forks as a good thing for the superhumanly beautiful vampires.
“I get a kick out of people being happy that it is rainy in Forks,” Bingham said.
“It isn’t that good for locals, but the fans love it — sometimes they are even disappointed when it is sunny.”
The Forks store has a for-fee tour of all the sites in Forks and can also steer people toward a self-guided tour.
The Port Angeles location will also give directions to the important sites in town.
McDonald said that the best thing she thinks area businesses can do to take advantage of the influx of vampire tourists is to learn about the books.
“Read the books,” she said.
“Watching the movie is not enough.”
Bingham agreed: “The people who are coming into the visitor center are not looking for a piece of paper — they are looking for an experience.”
Both Bingham and McDonald estimated the phenomenon would last another five to 10 years.
“We have several more movies to go,” McDonald said — citing the release of “New Moon” on Nov. 20 this year and “Eclipse” on June 30, 2010.
A release date for “Breaking Dawn” has not been determined.
“The best thing about this is that people say they are coming to Forks because of Twilight, but they say they will come back because of Forks,” Bingham said.
Schostak said she had spoken with other towns where movies and TV shows were set, and the only ones that didn’t help the town were those in which businesses and the town didn’t get involved.
“Forks has been given an incredible gift,” she said.
“We are very lucky that the chamber and the community recognized it and embraced it so early on.”
__________
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
