Twin Peaks Day is celebrated on February 24 every year to commemorate the day F.B.I. Agent Dale Cooper comes to town to investigate the death of Laura Palmer. Cooper arrives in the town at 10:55 AM in the first episode, “Northwest Passage”. The event is marked by Cooper saying. “Diane, 11:30 a.m., February 24th. Entering the town of Twin Peaks, five miles south of the Canadian border, twelve miles west of the state line. I’ve never seen so many trees in my life. As W.C. Fields would say, “I’d rather be here than Philadelphia.” He dictates the above into his ever-present microcassette recorder for his far-off assistant Diane to someday transcribe.
HISTORY OF TWIN PEAKS DAY
Twin Peaks was created by David Lynch and premiered on T.V. in 1990. It tantalized viewers who enjoyed crime and mystery shows. The show was canceled after its second season, but remained a fan favorite, growing a cult following over the years. The show was revived in 2017 with MacLachlan returning to the sleepy town of Twin Peaks as Agent Cooper 25 years later.
The fictional town of Twin Peaks is said to be “five miles south of the Canadian border, and twelve miles west of the state line,” but the filming locations are a bit closer to Puget Sound. Lynch and his crew scouted locations in Snoqualmie, North Bend, and Fall City for the pilot and kept those sites as exterior footage. In 2018, the mayors of Snoqualmie and North Bend declared February 24 Twin Peaks Day, to honor how much tourism the show had brought over the years from fans.
Though canceled by ABC two seasons after a very strong start, due to falling viewership, Twin Peaks was vastly influential on what followed. It basically gave birth to the FBI-vs.-supernatural theme of “The X Files.” But its most important contribution was the very idea of making television with masterful cinematography, elaborate, subtle plotting, and visceral emotional punch like “The Sopranos,” “Mad Men,” and “Breaking Bad.” What makes “Twin Peaks” unique among these are its open-ended strangeness, its total commitment to chance, and dream logic.
