PORT ANGELES — Fans rotated guarding places in line for each other throughout the night Tuesday and Wednesday as they waited to buy tickets today to the early Friday morning showing of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” at the Lincoln Theater.
“The people in town have been just incredible,” said Victoria McDonald, who claimed the first place in line on Tuesday afternoon.
“They are bringing us hot coffee and food,” she added.
Chrissy Lee, who was carefully guarding her place as second in line Wednesday, said most people had been friendly.
“A lot of people are really curious what we’re doing,” she said.
“It is pretty funny, because a couple of people have asked if we’re homeless.
“No, we’re not homeless. We are just big fans.”
Tickets go on sale at 5:15 p.m. today.
Port Angeles Police Sgt. Barb McFall said that, although people technically are not allowed to camp out on city sidewalks, the police would use common sense in dealing with the fans.
Tents would not be allowed because they would block the sidewalk, she said.
However, several tents had been erected by Wednesday night, as fans huddled in the cold rain.
On two screens
“New Moon” — based on a vampire novel set in Forks, LaPush and Port Angeles — will be shown on two screens at the theater at 132 E. First St., Port Angeles. The screenings will be at 12:01 a.m. Friday and 12:15 a.m. Friday.
The earlier showing will be preceded by “Twilight,” based on the first book in the four-novel Twilight series. “New Moon” is based on the second book.
“Twilight” will start at 9:30 p.m. today. Those who want to attend the double feature of “Twilight” and “New Moon” must buy two tickets.
The Rose Theatre in Port Townsend also will present a 12:01 a.m. Friday showing of “New Moon.”
Tickets are on sale online at www.rosetheatre.com. No fans were waiting outside the Port Townsend theater Wednesday.
Those standing in line in Port Angeles saved spots for each other as they left to get food, use the restroom, warm their toes and even sleep in the Dazzled by Twilight store across the street.
The line began to form in front of the Lincoln Theater early Tuesday afternoon. By twilight that day, 18 fans had lined up chairs, blankets, large umbrellas and packs of food to sustain them through the long wait. More fans trickled in after that.
Last year, the line — headed by McDonald — did not begin until 5:30 a.m. on the day of the opening.
“I heard that the first frost happened last night and I can certainly attest that I believe that is absolutely true,” McDonald said on Wednesday morning.
McDonald was the first manager of the Dazzled by Twilight store in Port Angeles, an extension of the Dazzled by Twilight store in Forks. Both sell Twilight-themed gift items. She is the wife of Sean McDonald, former advertising director of the Peninsula Daily News, who isnow publisher of the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise daily newspaper in Massachusetts, where they moved in September.
She returned to see “New Moon” in Port Angeles.
Last year, about 200 fans lined up to buy tickets to the midnight opening of “Twilight” in Port Angeles.
In the four-novel series written by Stephenie Meyer, Bella Swan, the mortal heroine in love with a vampire, often goes to Port Angeles for entertainment.
In “New Moon” she, her best friend and suitor, Jacob Black, and a classmate who also hopes to win her heart, Mike Newton, visit a theater in Port Angeles to watch a horror movie.
Although not named in the book, the downtown proximity indicates that the theater was the Lincoln.
Neither of the two movies based on the books were filmed on the North Olympic Peninsula.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.