Almost daily, North Bend is visited by devotees of the ‘90s TV series “Twin Peaks,” but this weekend, about 200 of them will gather for the annual experience of Twin Peaks Fest.

“We used to joke that people take a pilgrimage to Mecca each year, and we go to North Bend,” said Rob Lindley, the new coordinator of the 21 year-old festival, along with his wife, Deanne.

“For the next 72 hours, you get the feel of actually being in Twin Peaks,” is how Lindley describes it.

Twin Peaks Fest, which has been held annually since 1992, will follow tradition with a welcome celebration and trivia contest at the Sallal Grange Hall on Friday, complete with a doughnut-heaped table, in homage to the pilot episode of the show, plus movie night at the North Bend Theatre Friday, a filming-site tour that goes through North Bend, Snoqualmie and Fall City, and a celebrity dinner on Saturday, with a farewell picnic on Sunday.

Confirmed celebrity guests for this year’s fest include Charlotte Stewart (Betty Briggs), Catherine E. Coulson (The Log Lady), Kimmy Robertson (Lucy Moran), John Neff (sound) and Jen Lynch, the director of the movie night showing of “Chained,” author of “The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer” companion book to the series, and daughter of series creator David Lynch.

For Lindley, the picnic remains one of his fondest memories of the festival, specifically the time he spent with actor Don Davis, Major Briggs from the show. “We talked baseball, politics, everything, cars, fishing… it was awesome.”

The human connection of that day—“It’s a true picnic, no autographs or photo-taking, you just hang out and get to know (the cast and crew of the show) on a personal level,”— is what makes the festival and the show itself so appealing, he adds.

When he got hooked on the show, during his military service in Germany, he remembers thinking “OK, this is small-town American, something people can relate to,” but also, “the supernatural makes it interesting,” and “Wow, this is smart!” and “The show never insulted my intelligence.”

Twin Peaks is what drew the Lindleys to the Pacific Northwest when they returned to the U.S. They live in Puyallup, and their proximity to the fest is what first got them involved in helping to make it happen, but this is their first year as the organizers.

They are excited to share the experience with other fans of the show who come from all over the world for the event.

“To see the look on people’s faces when they look up Saturday morning and they see the fog hanging over Mount Si,” he said, “…to us it’s another beautiful day in North Bend. To them it’s the most magical moment in the world.”

• Learn all about Twin Peaks Fest here.

Deanne and Rob Lindley are the new coordinators of the 21 year-old Twin Peaks Fest, which returns this weekend.