Twin Peaks Day the Perfect Remedy for Covid Ennui

Ok, I’ll admit it. I got a word of the day app and I HAD to use that word. I think it fits,

Ennui: “a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction”

Yup, I have the Covid Ennui. You?

The other day I saw Mayor McFarland had proclaimed February 24, 2021, Twin Peaks Day in North Bend. Snoqualmie’s Mayor Larson is scheduled to do the same on Monday the 22^nd and thought that might be just the thing we need to break up the malaise and bring a little weird fun into our lives.

For three decades now, the iconic TV series has drawn tourists year-round to North Bend and the Snoqualmie Valley, placing many City locations and businesses into popular culture history.

February 24th was chosen because it is the date celebrated worldwide by Twin Peaks fans as the day FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper arrived in Twin Peaks.

The two Mayors invite all valley citizens to celebrate Twin Peaks Day with donuts, cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee.

But what is Twin Peaks Day? Who started it, when and most importantly, why?

I started with the obvious, the Twin Peaks Day website and started talking with the site’s owner Snoqualmie Local Karl Reinsch. Asking him the history of the day and if he knew who started it and when.

Says Reinsch, “Twin Peaks Day is a day where fans of the television show celebrate the show in any manner of their choosing. Some people celebrate by re-watching the show while eating cherry pie or donuts and drinking coffee, while others celebrate by traveling to the Snoqualmie Valley and visiting locations featured in the show. The date of Twin Peaks Day is February 24, when the FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper’s character arrives in the fictional town of Twin Peaks. It is traditional for fans to gather at the Twin Peaks town sign location on Reinig Road at 11:30 am, which is the moment in the show when Agent Cooper drives into town.”

The answer to the question of who started the day is perhaps unknowable. Reinsch thinks many likely would try and take credit for the day, but fans, aka Twin Peaks tourists, have traveled to the Snoqualmie Valley filming locations since the show originally aired in 1990. He believes one could presume that fans have been celebrating Twin Peaks Day most likely since 1991. The morning gathering on the 24^th at the sign location has been a tradition for many years now.

Reinsch, along with Pieter Dom, who runs the Welcome to Twin Peaks blog, and another local Mary Hutter, who runs the Living Twin Peaks Facebook page, all promote the day on social media, with Dom being particularly influential in creating Facebook events for it at least as far back as 2015.

Since the show returned in 2017, Reinsch says you can see some of the actors such as Kyle MacLachlan, the show’s creators, Mark Frost and David Lynch, and even the Showtime Network celebrating the day on social media.

For now, it appears that the day is a loosely defined celebration, in part likely due to the pandemic. Still, Reinsch and other Peaks fans feel there is an opportunity for Snoqualmie and North Bend cities to participate in the day and use it to promote tourism and local businesses by making Twin Peaks Day officially recognized.

So, since 2018, Reinsch has requested a proclamation from the Mayors of Snoqualmie and North Bend. He took inspiration from proclamations such as Goonies Day in Astoria, Oregon and the various Star Wars Day proclamations in towns such as Modesto, California.

Locally, various groups of fans usually get together to visit filming locations and eat and drink at businesses used in the show.

Some of the shooting locations include:

• Twede’s-(137 W North Bend Way), Also known as the Double R Diner, was seen in many scenes in both seasons. Owned for 21 years by Kyle Twede, it is now owned by Max and Rachel, who will, of course, have a special on Cherry Pie and Coffee that is black as midnight on a moonless night.
• The Roadhouse-(4200 Preston Fall City Road SE) Exteriors of the building were used in the series pilot, the movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and the 2017 series as the “Bang Bang Bar.”
• The Salish Lodge & Spa-(6501 Railroad Ave SE) Used for exterior shots of the Great Northern Hotel and White Tail Falls the interior shots were from the Kiana Lodge in Poulsbo. It is seen several times in all three seasons and the movie. They offer the ‘Great Northern Escape’ package that comes with a map of area locations and, of course, coffee and cherry pie.
• Volition Brewery-(112 W North Bend Way) Formerly Glaziers Dry Goods Company, it became the home to Volition in 2019 and was Nadine Hurley’s shop “Run Silent, Run Drapes” shop in the shows the third season. They will be offering 10% off to people who stop by on the 24th for Twin Peaks Day.
• Smokey Joe’s-(38600 SE King Street) Stood in as the Elk’s Point #9 Bar in Season three was the location for a gruesome scene between Sarah Palmer and an unlucky trucker.
• DirtFish-(7001 396th Dr. SE)-Formerly the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co. and now home to the rally school, this was the location of both the Packard Mill and the Sheriff’s office’s in season one.

In addition, there are other local businesses who just join in on the fun:

• The North Bend Bakery-(127 W North Bend Way) Cherry pies, Twin Peaks-themed cookies and donuts.
• Twin Peaks Pub-(129 W North Bend Way) Will have specialized Twin Peaks drinks.
• Snoqualmie Falls Brewery-(8032 Falls Ave SE) Has their Ghostwood Kolsch beer with a label featuring elements of the show.

[Note: Snoqualmie’s and North Bend’s proclamations include more locations to visit]

Reinsch notes, “Twin Peaks has had a huge effect on modern television and has brought thousands of tourists to the Snoqualmie Valley over the last 30 years. There are Twin Peaks tourists visiting here, especially at Twede’s, pretty much every single day of the year. There are people who have moved to the Snoqualmie Valley specifically because of Twin Peaks. The residents of the Valley, along with the businesses and cities, have done a great job over the years of being welcoming to Twin Peaks tourists. I hope to see that continue for many years to come and celebrating Twin Peaks Day is one of the ways we can continue that tradition of being welcoming.”

Under normal circumstances, more than a few locals give free tours to visitors and are always happy to meet up, hang out, and talk about the show. People should feel to reach out to Karl or Mary if they want to know more about the show or have visiting family/friends who want to see the sights.

As Agent Cooper says, “I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.” I think most of us in the Snoqualmie Valley understand exactly what he means about this place we call home.