Wednesday, July 23, 2008 - Rochester, NY
Cherry pie, cup of coffee
An RIT Web developer co-organizes an annual festival for fans of a 1990s television program.
RIT Web-site developer and “Twin Peaks” aficionado Jared Lyon and his collection of “Twin Peaks” DVDs, CDs, magazines and collectibles. He has helped organize an annual festival of fans that meets this week in North Bend, Wash.
Who killed Laura Palmer? That was the question asked by a quirky and creepy television show that aired for just two seasons: “Twin Peaks.”
The murder mystery came and went, creating a short-term sensation and a longer-lasting cult following. It also won three Golden Globe awards, including one for Best Television Drama, during its 1990-91 run.
Fans of the short-lived program had never seen anything like it and were not prepared to let it fall into television obscurity when it went off the air after just 29 episodes.
Jared Lyon, a graduate of and Web-site developer at the Rochester Institute of Technology, was immediately hooked on the show — created by filmmaker David Lynch and Mark Frost — and has watched the entire series at least 50 times.
“It was a family event,” said Jared. “My mom, my sister and I would watch it religiously.”
Jared, 29, is still a fan and currently co-organizes an annual Twin Peaks Festival in North Bend, Wash. — the filming location of the fictional town for which the show was named.
“I grew up in a small town and I liked the idea that there was more happening in this boring town that I lived in than meets the eye, and that’s what ‘Twin Peaks’ is all about,” said Jared, who hails from Barton, Vt. “On the surface, it’s just this town where everyone likes coffee and cherry pie, but then there’s this whole underbelly, and something evil coming from the woods.”
The yearly gathering of fans began in August 1992 when the movie studio distributing the feature film “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” — essentially a prequel to the television series — premiered the film in North Bend. The studio sponsored the event and brought several stars of the film to the screening — as well as a great many cherry pies, which were served up with coffee so often on the show they became a running joke.
Pat Shook and her husband, Don, enjoyed the experience so much that they decided to organize a yearly festival for fans of the show to get together and share their love for the show’s eccentric characters, quirky camera angles and evocative music.
According to Jared, the first few years of the festival were held off Bainbridge Island, Wash., where the body of the fictional Laura Palmer was found. But because of the expense of holding the festival at such a remote location, it was moved back to North Bend 10 years ago. Since 2004, Jared, along with Californian Amanda Hicks and a small group of “TwinPeaks” fans, have run the festival. Jared also created and maintains the Twin Peaks Festival Web site (www.twinpeaksfest.com/).
Stuart Geddes, 28, traveled all the way from Airdrie, Scotland, to attend last year’s festival after becoming hooked on the show five years ago.
“I purchased the DVD box set of the first season and watched all the episodes in one sitting — I was hooked,” said Stuart. “I loved the quirkiness and the great story only to be disappointed to find out that, at that time, the second season wasn’t available on DVD.”
To feed his obsession, Stuart scoured eBay and purchased season 2 of “TwinPeaks” on VHS. While on his search, he stumbled upon the festival’s Website and after two years of “pestering” his girlfriend, convinced her to take the journey with him to last year’s festival.
“When we arrived in the U.S., people were amazed that we had come so far for a festival about ‘Twin Peaks,’ but once we met up with Jared and everyone else in North Bend, it was great,” Stuart said. “On Friday, I took part in a ‘Twin Peaks’ trivia competition and it turns out I’m more of a geek than I thought — I made it to the third round.”
Throughout the weekend, Stuart and his girlfriend met many other fans, toured the filming sites, took lots of pictures, shopped for rare collectibles, met cast and crew of the show, and had plenty to eat — especially cherry pie.
“My friends have converted their girlfriends into fans of the show, too, and hopefully at least six of us will be going to next year’s festival,” he said.
This year’s festival runs July 25-27 and will feature bus tours of different filming locations, movie viewing, trivia games and a celebrity dinner that will include a question-and-answer session with cast and crew members from the show. The festival draws about 150 fans each year. Lynch has yet to attend but he has filmed several “greetings” that have been shown at the festival. His daughter, Jennifer Lynch, best known for writing The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer and directing the 1993 film “Boxing Helena” starring “Twin Peaks” cast member Sherilyn Fenn, has attended the festival two years in a row. There is talk that her new film, “Surveillance,” will be shown at this year’s festival — months before its scheduled release.
Jason Bracht will attend the festival for the first time this year. The 33-year-old Minnesota native also discovered the event while searching for clues and hidden information about “Twin Peaks.”
“I didn’t watch the show during its initial run, but I caught up with it when the Bravo network began showing reruns,” said Jason.“When I started to read up on the festival, I knew I had to take part in it and the rest is history.”
Jared anticipates a rise in festival attendance this year because of the release last fall of the DVD set “Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition,” which includes a 20-minute documentary about the festival.
© 2008 Rush-Henrietta Post