Production on the first Twilight film wrapped in Oregon in May of 2008, but the cultural phenomenon continues to bring dollars into the state. This past weekend Portland’s Hilton hotel played host to hundreds of “Twi-hards” (many of whom traveled from out-of-state) to attend this year’s Official Twilight Convention.
We contacted Creation Entertainment, producers of the Official Twilight Convention, on Tuesday to discuss fan reaction to the event. While they declined to tell us how many fans attended (fan blogs say that the three-day event drew hundreds, but Creation’s company policy is to keep specific attendance numbers confidential), they did note that the Portland stop on their Twilight Convention tour featured something none of their other dates could – a tour of film locations led by Twilight director Catherine Hardwick. We’re told that Hardwick sat in on two packed bus trips to various Oregon locations from the first film.
A brief perusal of blogs such as Twilight Lexicon found mentions of several convention attendees taking their own road trips to St. Helens and Hood River while in the area for the convention. It’s apparent that interest in the film and its locations are still quite strong two years later – we can only assume that this ”Twilight-tourism” trend will continue in the same way that The Goonies and Stand By Me have served as tourism engines for the communities they were filmed in.
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