Is it just us?  Why does everything around here seem to be influenced by Twilight-mania?

For example, Olympic Cellars, one of our favorite wineries, recently launched their new Sparkling Twilight wine. The label from this delicious sparkling Syrah reads:

A sparkling wine that bubbles with enthusiasm in celebration of your day’s journey and adventures.

Sipped at Twilight as the Olympic Mountains take on the dazzling hues of the coming night, tiny bubbles mirror the Sparkling sky.

Enjoy the berry fruit character of this lively and refreshing Syrah. Off-dry, ruby in color, with fresh flavors of raspberries, cherries and red fruit.

Another example is Mt. Townsend Creamery's latest volley on the artisan cheese front--their New Moon cheese.  We're pretty sure our friends at Mt. Townsend Creamery (our favorite creamery and the producer of insanely good cheese), weren't trying to dogpile on the Twilight craze.  The connection between cheese and the moon is pretty well-established!  But this cheese is really good (kind of a Jack cheese with a smooth, rich texture) and we're telling everyone it's Twilight-related, even though it's probably not.  In fact, we're betting this is the kind of cheese Stephenie Meyer herself would buy if she stops in at the creamery or visits the (excellent) Farmers Market in uptown Port Townsend when she's in the area.

Both of these products are available online--wouldn't they be just killer, along with some of the Chamber's own Twilight and Forks-related merchandise, as part of a gift basket of authentic North Olympic Peninsula goodies for your favorite Twihard?

Wow!  We're speechless after checking out these brand-new MSN Twilight videos (you may have to install MS Silverlight to view the videos).  For the most part, they were shot by the MSN crew while they were here in Forks for Stephenie Meyer Day on Bella's Birthday.

The video featured above, Twilight: Land of Legends, presents an interesting perspective of Forks and LaPush.  Where the heck did they get some of that creepy footage?  Like those girls standing in that dark alley?  Or that huge pile of tires at Gilmore's?  Seriously, these are truly impressive and very well-done--you have to see them all!  Thanks MSN!

Those of you who have visited Forks know we actually do have a movie theater. It's just not a functioning movie theater. So, that means we're considering--gasp--leaving Forks for the New Moon movie release next week. Luckily, we have several great theater options in our area!

Port Angeles is showing New Moon Thursday, November 19, 2009, just after midnight. It's playing downtown at the Lincoln Theater. Twilight will play before it at 9:00 p.m. No advance tickets. This is, of course, the famous theater where Bella and her friends would have gone for a movie on excursions outside of Forks.

Port Townsend's New Moon opening happens at the Rose Theater at the same time on Thursday evening. They have advance tickets available, beginning November 16th, at their box office and online. The Rose is one of our favorite theaters and is always worth a visit.

Victoria, BC, has the movie opening on Thursday at 10:00 p.m. at several theaters including the Capital 6 Victoria Cinemas; Empire University 4; Silver City Victoria and the Caprice Showcase Theater.

It's almost here!!

We saw the Nightline crew on a Twilight tour bus a while back and their take on Forks just aired here on the ABC television network.  It's worth checking out--lots of clever puns and comments, generally summing up the situation as a "bloody success."  We hadn't previously heard of Dazzled by Twilight's Annette Bruno-Root referred to as "Queen of the Twihards" either.  Not sure if that's an official title or what . . .   Our favorite part was a reference to Forks as a "must-see" destination.  Even Rob Pattinson says he'd love to visit!  Thanks Nightline!

The Forks Chamber of Commerce's Annual "Wine and Cheese" Fundraiser is happening this Saturday, November 14, 2009, from 7:00 to 10:00 pm.  Funds generated from the event are used to offset the costs of operating our Visitor Information Center and this website.  In addition to delicious wine and cheese tastings, there will be a silent auction and "Best of the Year" awards.  This year's theme is, yup, "A 3-Hour Tour," so we're packing shades, tanning butter, etc.  Everyone is invited--head on down to the Downtown Forks Bank of America building (481 S. Forks Avenue) this Saturday to join in the fun!

You know you're in the big leagues when NBC's Today Show comes to town! And we just loved this "behind the scenes" shot of Lee Cowan interviewing Forks Chamber of Commerce Director Marcia Bingham next to "Bella's" truck at our world headquarters in Forks. That little furry thing--er, I mean that powerful, wolf-like creature--at Lee's feet, is actually Katie, the official Chamber canine greeter! Thanks to Lee Cowan and crew, and to the Today Show, for helping us spread the word about Forks and the West End.

Forks is really on a roll! Now the London Times Online is writing about us. Bryan Alexander has a knack for capturing the Forks experience, with observations like "As the tiny two-lane highway rolled on, the blood-sucking puns increased" (referring to the roadside signs cropping up on the drive to Forks). We love getting visitors from the UK here in Forks and LaPush--thanks to the Times for the fun article!

Thanks to writer Candice Vallantin and the Toronto-based Globe and Mail for this special Halloween feature about Forks. We're well-aware that Canada is home to hordes of Twilight fans--many of whom have already made the trek to Forks, WA. And no wonder, since we're only a 56 mi/90 km drive from Victoria, BC (via ferry). We enjoyed the article and appreciate the attention we're getting in Canada!

Hey, there’s another feature on Forks and the Twilight phenomena in today’s Seattle Times. The article attempts to weigh the pros and cons when a major pop phenomena involving vampires and werewolves happens in a small logging town–and it includes this fun video. We’re not exactly sure what the down-side of having lots of fun-loving, happy visitors to our community might be. Anyway, we’re loving it!

Opening day at the 2010 Olympic Games and the following Paralympic Games in Vancouver, BC, Canada, (226 mi/364 km from Forks) is just over 100 days away! And you can feel the excitement building with the Olympic Flame arriving from Greece and the Olympic Torch Relay beginning in Victoria this Friday morning. The Victoria Times Colonist has some good viewing tips if you’re heading up there for the festivities this weekend.

Wow! You’d expect to find huge t-shirt factories lining the streets out here in the West End of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula, given the number of Forks and LaPush t-shirts available online. We’re not really sure who’s making these shirts, but we suspect most aren’t actually from around here.

We appreciate all of the attention–and the more the merrier–but there are locally produced Forks, LaPush and Twilight-related products available, including the Forks Chamber of Commerce’s own line of shirts and stickers. Your purchases help support community-minded Chamber activities, including operating this web site and our web cams, staffing our Visitor Information Center in Forks and funding scholarships for graduates of Forks High School and Quileute Tribal School.

But, just for fun, here’s a small sampling of some of the images available on t-shirts and other products out there:

The Olympic Peninsula Community Museum never ceases to amaze us. This colorful photograph of beautiful fall foliage in the Olympics, which is part of the Olympic National Park Flora collection, is just one small example of what you’ll find there. The online museum is organized into fascinating exhibits — each representing a different aspect of our richly diverse West End culture and history. While there are just too many worthwhile exhibits to mention, we particularly enjoyed learning more about the Mountaineers’ 1920 Outing to Mt. Olympus (what hardcores!); Fannie Taylor, Postmistress of Mora; and the Great Forks Fire of 1951. The archived images of Hoh Tribe Baskets and Artifacts also caught our eye. And that’s barely scratching the surface of what’s available at this interesting resource!

We’re pleased to announce the return of our “new and improved” photo galleries! The Chamber minions have been toiling mightily to set up new galleries with tons of new Forks and West End photos. We’re not done yet, but feel free to take a peek! We’ve split the galleries into two main sections, cleverly titled the Forks Photo Gallery and the Twilight Photo Gallery. Each leads to further galleries, so check ‘em out! And if you’ve got some cool photos of our area you’re willing to share, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it them to us for possible inclusion in our Visitors’ Photos gallery. Enjoy!

Fall means beautiful sunsets here on the Olympic Peninsula. This image of tonight’s sunset over the picturesque harbor in Port Angeles, our neighbors to the east, was captured from their webcam.

Special thanks to Tinsel Korey (who plays Emily Young in New Moon) for recently visiting our area. The photos show Tinsel at the “Treaty Line” between Forks and LaPush and with Chris Morganroth III. Hope you enjoyed your time here!

We got a kick out of this article about Forks in New York Times Travel. While the first impression of the article from everyone in town is likely to be “hey, it’s really not a two-stoplight town–it’s a one-stoplight town,” overall, Jane Margolies does a fine job of capturing the fun of Stephenie Meyer Day and the story of the Twilight frenzy here in Forks. We also enjoyed the slide show of nicely done local photos by Stuart Isett. Articles like this tend to make obvious the fact that Forks isn’t a secret any longer–but fall is a perfect time to visit without a lot of hoopla and Forks, LaPush and the West End continue to welcome all visitors. C’mon up and check us out!

Things are shaping up nicely for Stephenie Meyer Day Weekend 2009 in Forks and LaPush, which is just over 24 hours away!! There are a couple of things we failed to mention in our last post, so here are some additional tidbits of information. [ALSO, for a Friday, September 11, 2009, update, check out this article from the Peninsula Daily News.]

One exciting addition to the festivities is the appearance of Tinsel Korey, the talented actress playing Emily Young in New Moon. She will be appearing at various locations, including the bonfire with native storytelling taking place in LaPush, on First Beach, Saturday evening. Photo-ops and autographs will be available as part of the event. More information can be found in this article by Paige Dickerson from today’s Peninsula Daily News.