FORKS — A hearing tonight will let community members speak up about what should happen to the facade that’s the only structure left from the 1925 Forks High School building.
No decisions will be made at the hearing, which will begin at 6 p.m. in the Quillayute Valley School District board room, 390 S. Forks Ave.
The city’s conditional-use permit for new construction at the high school requires the School Board to hold a public hearing and give the public 45 days to come up with alternative funding for the masonry facade.
Most of the high school, at 191 S. Spartan Ave., has already been torn down, but the facade has been left standing with the possibility of it becoming a freestanding monument on the revitalized campus.
The School Board decided Oct. 1 that it couldn’t afford to keep the structure and awarded a $12.2 million contract to Primo Construction of Carlsborg to build the new portions of the high school, replacing the parts that were crumbling and leaking.
The facade will be torn down if $217,000 — the cost to save the facade archway — cannot be raised.
Nostalgic for residents
Many residents want to save the structure, which has nostalgia value for generations of West End families.
The facade — which shows the moniker “Quillayute High School” over the doorway — also has sentimental value for fans of the fictional Twilight saga and movies stemming from the teen romance novels.
Don Grafstrom, who led an effort to attempt to save the Forks High School building in 2008 through the West Olympic Peninsula Betterment Association, said he will participate in fundraising options again.
Twilight sentimentality
That effort is combined with an online promotion by the weekly newspaper, Forks Forum, called Twilighters for Forks.
“This isn’t just about one thing, about Twilight,” Grafstrom said.
“We want to save the building for its historical value.”
He said details on future fundraisers are yet to be firmed, but he hoped to have everything ready by tonight’s hearing.
For information on donating, phone Grafstrom at 360-374-3141.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.