NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Sept. 13.
FORKS — The biggest Stephenie Meyer Days festival yet is unfolding in Forks this weekend, organizers say.
“Twi-hards,” fans of the Twilight saga, will have a chance to immerse themselves in Meyer’s vision of Forks and the world of vampires, werewolves and Olympic National Park during this seventh annual event.
“It’s growing every year,” said Lissy Andros, executive director of the Forks Chamber of Commerce.
The 2013 edition of the celebration of the Twilight books and movies celebrates — as in years past — fictional character Bella Swan’s birthday and this year Bella’s First Hunt with the Olympic Coven in Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rain Forest.
The Twilight saga comprises four novels written by Meyer, and five movies based on the books, about a love triangle between Bella, the teenage daughter of the Forks police chief, the “cold” (and sparkling) vampire Edward Cullen and the “hot” Quileute werewolf Jacob Black.
Vampire lessons
The final book in the series, Breaking Dawn (published in 2008), and its final movie “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2” (released last Nov. 16), featured a pitched battle against other Volturi vampires.
Guests of the Olympic Coven will visit the Hoh Rain Forest, which provides visitors a look inside the ancient forest where Bella and the Cullen vampire family hunt wild animals for food.
The “hunt” begins at 10:15 a.m. at the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center.
The cost is $15 per car for a pass to Olympic National Park (the pass is also good for another six days).
Stephenie Meyer Days is celebrated in Forks each year on the weekend nearest Sept. 16, Bella Swan’s birthday in the books.
More than 1,000 visitors are expected to attend this weekend’s festivities, which began Thursday to celebrate sparkling vampires, werewolves and Forks’ famously rainy weather, Andros said.
Despite reports to the contrary, Andros said fans of both the series and the natural surroundings continue to stream into the West End year-round.
Twilight tourism, she said, has defied predictions of a fast decline for vampire and werewolf tourism once the books and movies no longer were being written or made.
Tens of thousands
The Forks Visitor Center still is counting visitors in the tens of thousands — and numbers have begun to increase again, Andros added.
It’s not the more than 70,000 who visited the West End town’s visitor center at the height of the Twilight craze in 2010, but after dipping to a little more than 40,000 in 2011 and 2012, the 2013 numbers are adding up to be a better year, she said.
Those who skip the visitor center aren’t counted, such as return guests who already know where they’re going and what they are doing in the Forks area, so the actual number of visitors is thought to be considerably higher, according to visitor center statements in past years.
Andros said the addition of a Facebook page for Stephenie Meyer Days has changed the nature of the way people are visiting the area.
Many visitors to the festival — including some from England, Ireland and South America — have been talking via Facebook for months and already know each other by the time they meet face to face in Forks, Andros said.
“There’s no such thing as being alone in Forks,” she said.
Meyer has attended only one event in the past and is not expected to be in Forks this weekend.
Hillywood
Hilly and Hannah Hindi of The Hillywood Show will return to Forks for a second year of “Twilight” send-ups.
The Hillywood Show is a website featuring satire sketches, character impersonations and song and dance parodies of big-box office films, including the “Twilight” movies.
The Hindi sisters will be available for a meet-and-greet from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. today at Sully’s Drive-In, 220 S. Forks Ave., and will host a music festival from 6 p.m. to midnight at The Roundhouse at 110 Business Park Road.
On Saturday, The Hillywood Show look-alike contest will be held at 10 a.m. at Pacific Plaza.
Forever in Forks
A new group from Arizona, Forever in Forks, has organized several events for Twilight fans, with a target of raising $5,000 for Stand Up 2 Cancer.
The events are part of a package deal, with exclusive items available only to ticket-holders, and include a welcome breakfast in the park, lunch at First Beach in LaPush, a Twilight site scavenger hunt and movie viewings at Forks High School.
No information about ticket sales was available this week.
Guy stuff
A “Guy’s List” of activities for those who accompany Twilight fans but who would rather do something else is available at the Forks Area Chamber of Commerce website at www.forkswa.com/twilight.
The Forks Logging & Mill Tour takes visitors to see active logging sites and mill operations in the Forks area. The tour is from 8:45 a.m. to noon today. To reserve a seat on the tour, phone 360-374-2531 or 800-443-6757.
The West End Thunder Drag Races roar from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Forks Airport.
The Forks Police Department softball game begins at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Individual or small-group activities include hiking in the Hoh Rain Forest, fishing in one of the many rivers near Forks or surfing at LaPush.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
