Randy Jennings
Supporter
- Joined
- May 18, 2013
- Messages
- 768
WAKITA, Okla. -- The storm season for the town of Wakita was pretty busy in 1995.
From April right on through the end of summer, the town doubled in size just about every day as film and construction crews worked on a little movie called 'Twister'.
"It was an amazing summer," says Linda Wade. "It makes the rest of them seem a little bit duller. Every street in town was lined with trucks."
Wade was an extra in that movie.
Now, she and another Wakita Garden Club retiree run the Twister Movie Museum, which still gets visitors 20 years after the film's release in May of 1996.
"This week I've had visitors from Greece, France, Ireland..." she boasts.
Linda remembers how the town buzzed for months, how workers fixed up old houses and put new fronts on buildings damaged in a 1993 hail storm- only to tear them down and clean it all up before they left.
"We were actually five blocks of side to side, head high debris for a while," recalls Wade. "We just went through a unique brand of urban renewal."
The Twister Museum still has one of the Dorothy units used in the movie.
Star Bill Paxton was always throwing a football to anyone who would catch it.
That same football is now part of the museum collection, as is a Twister pinball game he donated too.
Twister was the second highest grossing movie of 1996 behind Independence Day.
Wakita is quiet again.
The Twister Cafe opens occasionally.
The water tower still stands tall.
"It's hard to believe it's been 20 years," says Linda.
To mark the 20th year since the movie Twister tore through town, citizens will fill Main Street, cook hot dogs, and tell their own stories about the storm system that more than 50 million people saw.
The 20th anniversary Twister party will take place May 14, 2016 in Wakita, Oklahoma.
For more information on the event or the Twister museum go to Twister the Movie Museum on Facebook.com
Source: KFOR: http://kfor.com/2016/05/13/20-years...-wakita-oklahoma-the-town-wants-to-celebrate/
From April right on through the end of summer, the town doubled in size just about every day as film and construction crews worked on a little movie called 'Twister'.
"It was an amazing summer," says Linda Wade. "It makes the rest of them seem a little bit duller. Every street in town was lined with trucks."
Wade was an extra in that movie.
Now, she and another Wakita Garden Club retiree run the Twister Movie Museum, which still gets visitors 20 years after the film's release in May of 1996.
"This week I've had visitors from Greece, France, Ireland..." she boasts.
Linda remembers how the town buzzed for months, how workers fixed up old houses and put new fronts on buildings damaged in a 1993 hail storm- only to tear them down and clean it all up before they left.
"We were actually five blocks of side to side, head high debris for a while," recalls Wade. "We just went through a unique brand of urban renewal."
The Twister Museum still has one of the Dorothy units used in the movie.
Star Bill Paxton was always throwing a football to anyone who would catch it.
That same football is now part of the museum collection, as is a Twister pinball game he donated too.
Twister was the second highest grossing movie of 1996 behind Independence Day.
Wakita is quiet again.
The Twister Cafe opens occasionally.
The water tower still stands tall.
"It's hard to believe it's been 20 years," says Linda.
To mark the 20th year since the movie Twister tore through town, citizens will fill Main Street, cook hot dogs, and tell their own stories about the storm system that more than 50 million people saw.
The 20th anniversary Twister party will take place May 14, 2016 in Wakita, Oklahoma.
For more information on the event or the Twister museum go to Twister the Movie Museum on Facebook.com
Source: KFOR: http://kfor.com/2016/05/13/20-years...-wakita-oklahoma-the-town-wants-to-celebrate/
