Real Twin Peaks Fan-Made Buttons from Snoqualmie Valley, WA in the Early 1990s

In the early 1990s, the Alpine Blossom and Gift Shoppe in North Bend, Washington was the place to find officially licensed and fan-made items from Twin Peaks. The Twin Peaks Visual Soundtrack, produced for the Japanese market in 1992, even included footage of this merchandise inside the shop. During my first visit to Snoqualmie Valley in August 1996, I remember buying one fan-created button that included Special Agent Dale Cooper’s iconic season ending question, “How’s Annie?” Decades later, I acquired four of those fan-made buttons via an online auction. It’s an early slice of fandom from the place where Mark Frost and David Lynch filmed their series.

TWIN PEAKS MERCHANDISE AT THE ALPINE BLOSSOM & GIFT SHOPPE

The Alpine Blossom and Gift Shoppe was once located at 213 North Bendigo Boulevard in North Bend, Washington. It’s about a block north of Twede’s Cafe which served as the film location of the Double R Diner, and the historic North Bend Theatre where David Lynch’s 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me had its North American premiere. Joanne Richter owned and operated this local flower and gift shop from 1979 until her retirement in 1998.

When I visited in August 1996, the shop’s exterior sign said, “The Log Lady Shops Here!”

Inside, there were rows of Twin Peaks-themed merchandise including licensed t-shirts, coffee mugs, books, video cassettes and much more. Joanne Richter also sold fan-created products including maps of filming locations, logs and, my favorite, a cassette containing the Sounds of Twin Peaks. She also carried a handful of buttons as seen in the image collage above.

I purchase the “How’s Annie?” button and wore it throughout the 1996 Twin Peaks Fan Festival. You can see it on my grandfather’s fishing vest while posing for a photo with a Twin Peaks fan named Pierre from France (I wonder what happened to him – Pierre, are you out there?).

You can also see the button in a photo with Don Davis taken outside the then Mar-T Cafe (known today as Twede’s Cafe) on Sunday, August 11, 1996, the last day of the Fan Fest that year.

I lost (or maybe misplaced) the button after a move from Columbus, Ohio to Central Florida in the late 1990s. So imagine my delight when I found it and three other designs in an online auction. I couldn’t push “Buy it Now” fast enough.

REAL TWIN PEAKS FAN BUTTONS FROM THE EARLY 1990s

There were four designs sold at the Alpine Blossom including the aforementioned “How’s Annie?” button. The artwork contains a drawing of snowcapped twin mountains overlooking a waterfall (which I’m assuming is supposed to be Snoqualmie Falls). The “How’s Annie?” button contains a place marker – The Real Twin Peaks / Snoqualmie Valley, WA. Download a high-resolution image of this button HERE.

Larry Yaeger shared a listing of items for sale at the Alpine Blossom via the online Alt.TV.Twin-Peaks bulletin board on July 16, 1991. He includes “Twin Peaks Pins” which were sold for $2.95 each. I’m guessing he meant these buttons as there were not cloisonné pins produced until later (including some of the United Kingdom video release of the show).

The “How’s Annie?” button appears in that 1992 Japanese visual soundtrack which contains footage most likely captured around December 1991. So I know it was available at least by December that year.

The back of the button contains no manufacturing or artist marks. It’s a simple brooch back button which was most likely assembled at the shop. I would love to know who created the artwork for these buttons.

The other three designs include phrases like, “I’m a Peakie!” This term, and it’s variation “Peakkie,” was used to describe a fan of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s groundbreaking show beginning in April 1990. There is a separate story I need to write about what Twin Peaks fans have been called for three decades. Download a high-resolution image of this button HERE.

A third button said, “Born to watch Twin Peaks” which seems like a button I should have purchased especially after being a super fan for more than three decades. This button, however, doesn’t include the phrase, “The Real Twin Peaks.” Download a high-resolution image of this button HERE.

The final button contains the phrase, “A Real Twin Peaks Fan!,” to which I’m both – a fan of Twin Peaks and a fan of the Real Twin Peaks. Download a high-resolution image of this button HERE

Shortly after this article was published, fellow Bookhouse Boy and Twin Peaks Blog author Karl Reinsch shared one more button he found on the Fall City Historical Society website.  A page with buttons in their collection contained a familiar looking drawing of snow capped mountains and a waterfall. This button has the phrase, “I’m from the REAL Twin Peaks!” and includes two town names – Snoqualmie, WA and North Bend, WA. I’m wondering if this button was created after the other four pictured in this article.

Fans have been a part of the show since its beginning, with early letter writing campaigns taking place at the end of April 1990 urging ABC Television to keep the show on the air. Decades later, people are still discovering the series and finding their way to Snoqualmie Valley. I hope to see many of them at the next Real Twin Peaks event in February 2027.