Economic Projections in Port Angeles and Forks, the Land of Twilight

Just got off the phone with my mom who lives in my old hometown of Port Angeles. She was talking about not wanting to go downtown because of the Twilight craziness. I'm sick of the Twilight craziness and I don't even live in Port Angeles anymore. Being the biggest town in its area, Port Angeles does not have the economic benefit of being near an urban area. Port Angeles has two things going for it economically, Twilight, and being near Victoria.

Although my mom was isolating herself to avoid the Twilight fans, she did say that she supported anything that supported the economy for Port Angeles. Many small businesses in the area are going out of business because of the economic problems. Twilight is a lifeline for Port Angeles right now. New Moon, based on the second Twilight book comes out in theaters on Friday and there were people sitting in line to see it in Port Angeles on Tuesday.

I remember a time before Twilight, when I could walk downtown and hang out with my friends and not be bombarded with tourists. I remember going to Bella Italia with my boyfriend on a date and not even needing a reservation, it was quiet, probably half full. I remember when Port Angeles was just like any other small town, a little bit of standard America and a little bit of unique home town culture. I remember when the wanna-be vampires were in the minority. Though I am happy that people from high school that harassed wanna-be vampires but haven't left Port Angeles now have to cater to the wanna-be vampires from the Twilight craze. It makes me smile every time I think back to my home town.

While I am vaguely sickened by the commercialism of Twilight that has taken over Port Angeles and Forks, I must be thankful for the help it is providing the local economy. Many businesses in Port Angeles are adding twilight products and spins on products that were marketed in other ways previously. As far as commercialism goes, Twilight isn't that bad. Vampire products have always been and will always be cool, and not only around Halloween time. Eventually the Twilight craze will die down and life will return to some semblance of normalcy. Twilight can't go on forever. Port Angeles and Forks will ride the Twilight wagon through the economic downturn and emerge on the other side of both the economic problems and the Twilight fiasco probably around the same time.