It was
recently announced that the name of the September festival in Forks Washington would
be changed to Forever Twilight in Forks from Stephenie Meyer Day. I was and
remain somewhat ambivalent about the change. I am writing this as a way to
clarify my thoughts on this change.
2015 is
the 9th year for the celebration of Twilight and the author, Stephenie
Meyer, and the 10th anniversary of the publication of Twilight. This
name change is an added controversy surrounding the celebration this year. Does this mean there will be a shift in the focus of the festival?Will we forget who wrote the story that made Forks a spot for fans to visit?
It has
been Stephenie Meyer Day for 8 years. In those years, the remaining three (3) books
of the Twilight Saga plus other related books have been published and five (5)
movies based on the books have been made. Ms Meyer has also published the start
of another series of books and started a film production company with one film
released, Austenland from Fickle Fish Company.
In
interviews that I’ve seen Ms Meyer appears composed but a little uncomfortable
with all the attention from her stories. Several people that have had the
pleasure of meeting her in person have used humble as an adjective for her. She
was apparently not thrilled with the celebration being named for her from the
beginning. It is even more understandable with the other series coming out and
her production company.
There is
tradition to keeping the name the same. People know it as Stephenie Meyer Day. I
like tradition. But it can hold you back. Marketing and publicity will need to
be done to get the new name out there and recognized by people use to Stephenie
Meyer Day.
The new
name does focus on her first series of books that take place in Forks. The Host
series takes place in Arizona, so maybe this is a good change. But we also want
to celebrate the author.
The date
around Bella’s birthday was chosen for the celebration in Forks since Ms Meyer
was born 24 Dec -- not the best time to visit Forks and not best time to have
people leave home and family to come visit and celebrate a book and film series. Maybe with the
name change there can be some leeway in the date. Maybe another city could host
a celebration of Twilight over a weekend close to Bella’s birthday. Next year
13 Sep will be a Tuesday. One place could have a celebration the weekend before
and another place the weekend after. This could be a nice happening. See my
previous post on 22 January about dream 10th Anniversary
celebration. Maybe happen next year? Dream on AW.
So maybe
this new name of Forever Twilight in Forks is a good thing. I don’t like but
have gotten use to the federal government combining President Lincoln’s and
President Washington’s birthday holidays into one holiday. I figure I’ll
eventually get use to the new name and people will forget it was ever anything
else.
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