My Twins Days 1999 Photo Album

-Charles Robinson

This is Me and John in the middle of one of the ubiquitous "group photos" which take place at the Hot Dog dinner on Friday night. For most people, this is the first event of the festival, and it's a great time to meet up with old friends, make some new ones, and start to get mentally prepared for what the weekend has in store for you!

The women on the outside edge are Diandra and Brianna. Zim and Kieu are next with the caps. The guys in the yellow shirts are Stephen and Jacob. Finally, that's me on the left and John on the right (our typical posing order)

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These gentlemen were brightly decked out in some very creative costuming. It takes a special kind of nerve (I think) to dress wildly in public, but they pulled it off with aplomb. If anyone knows their names, could you please email me? I hate having unidentified subjects in my photos!
These women are Sarah and Nancy, from Michigan. They are the secretaries for the Michigan Twins Association. The woman in the red is their sister Kathy (not a twin). If you'd like more info on the MTA, either click on the link above, or send them mail.
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This is Loretta and Wanetta (the "Etta Twins"). They are from Pennsylvania, and have been coming to Twinsburg since 1991. They have a web page right here!
This is John and Bill Rieff, flanking Sandy and Suzie - two women John and I have been seeing here almost every year that we've gone to the festival.
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Me and John, with Beth and Becky. These two women have been coming to the Holiday Inn in Hudson for many MANY years, but this year marked the monumentous event of them being able to legally drink and join in on the fun in the bar/ballroom! Whoo whoo!
In the parade on Saturday morning, Jeff and Steve shared their car with their cousins, Tammy and Terry. Although Tammy and Terry have been hearing about this festival over and over from Jeff and Steve, this is the first year that they've been able to make the time to come and join in the fun. They were having a great time last I saw them, and I wouldn't be surprised if they had already made their reservations for next year!
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Aha. Brenda and Linda from Maryland. A "friend" of theirs came up with these wonderful lycra shorts many many weeks prior to the festival (this is their first year). Finally, when it came down to the wire for finding appropriate T-Shirts for them, he came up with these wonderful bikini air-brushed-on T's. I wouldn't have had the guts to wear them, but Brenda and Linda started gaining confidence and by the time we hit the reviewing stand near the end of the parade they were working the crowd like a couple of pros!

Lorraine and Loretta are from Pittsburgh, and this is their 3rd year at the festival. They were really kicking it up on the dance floor in the evenings - I shoulda stuck around and taken some lessons!

Their T-Shirts say "Twinship through Kinship" on the front, and if I remember correctly they say "Friendship through Twinship" on the back!

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This is (oh please help me if I spelt this wrong!) Frankie and Frances. Best I know this is their first year! (Now here comes the email to tell me that they've been coming longer than John and I have!)

You may notice the big blue buttons they're wearing. Maytag was having a "Maytag Repairman lookalike contest" to promote their new Gemini range, so they were kind enough to include a button for every attending twin. And the lookalike contest was a hoot, lemme tell ya!

Joe and John Ahern are from Medina, OH. I remember distinctly someone asking on the Twins Days Message Board whether or not there would be Twin police officers in attendance at the festival. Well.. here they are! Wonder if the women found these guys....
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Fredrick and Niklas made Twins Days part of their trek to the U.S.A. this summer. As a matter of fact, I think they came specifically for the festival, all the way from Sweden! (How'd you guess it was Sweden????). Last we saw these two, they were having a great time. They were planning on heading off to New York after this, and perhaps Niagara Falls - but how's that going to measure up to all this entertainment??
Joe and Jim, from West Virginia, are definately "regulars". I can't remember a year we haven't seen these guys here. Caught in a rare moment in the sunlight, they can usually be found at the Holiday Inn in Hudson, after hours, helping the party keep moving. I still remember the year(s) when the bar would close down at 2:00am, and Jim and Joe would have the police in the lobby help haul a cooler of beer from their car into the hotel, so they could share with everyone! It's always a pleasure to meet these two.
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This is Donya and Tonya from Vermont. A critical detail of these shirts is that when they turn around (and stand in the right order) you can see an outline of the state of Vermont traced across the back of both of their shirts! I think Donya has "VER" and Tonya has "MONT".
This is John and Hugh Moore, posing next to a signboard which could be found all over Twinsburg this weekend (more on that signboard in a moment)
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Okay, I've taken a LOT of flack for not including more pictures of fraternal twins. While not actually being accused of bias, it's been brought to my attention that the "invisible twins" like to be included as well. Well, nothing is further from my mind than trying to exclude anyone from the fun, but I gotta tell ya: it's difficult sometimes to see these "invisible twins" - especially if they don't dress alike.

Well, Brenda and Barbara from Toledo, OH, this one's for you. These two caught my eye and I just couldn't resist!

The gentlemen in the glasses are Ray and Ralph Stover. They run the South Jersey Twins Club which you can find by following the link. Standing with them are Nick and Jim Falco, from Chicago. These four are some of the nicest guys you'll ever meet at the festival.
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Many many twins were amused by these signs which appeared all over town on Thursday night. A couple of twins dressed up to the nine's wishing us all "Welcome to Twins Days". The question which went through everyone's mind was "who the heck ARE those guys?!?". John and I managed to spot 'em at the beer garden, and got the story: They are Brook and Glenn Murphy, from Maryland. They had these signs (without any text) made up 10 years ago for a promotion for their housing construction company. This year, they decided to do something with the 100's of signs still sitting in the basement. A little commando-raid in the middle of the night with a hammer and some nails, and by morning there were these cheerful grins welcoming one and all. Great idea, guys!
Brenn Fulcher and Lynn Romano met with John and me briefly while we were standing around after the group photo on Saturday afternoon. Brenn teaches German (and English!) in school, and made John and me feel hopelessly inadequate with our German skills (now better than 15 years out of use). However, she was nice enough to say that we did well anyways. They are both from Virginia!.
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This is Larry and Garry from Cincinatti, OH. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that this is probably another set of fraternal twins. I mean, they're similar and all, but...?

Another "after the group photo group photo" (really, that does make sense if you think about it).

The women in the back row in the denim dresses are Jeanette and Jennifer - so far their home state has been narrowed down to either OH or PA.. For those keeping score, they're fraternals! In the cowboy hats are Darla (in the top row) and Donna (bottom row). They're from NY. (Thanks for the clarifications, Darla!)

The two in the Mickey Mouse caps are Kieu and Zim.. That's Kieu, with Zim standing a little taller to the right. The guys on each end have just the silliest laughs, it's impossible not to smile when they're running around making jokes. They are Jim and Jeff Thiel, from California.

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This is Janet and Julie - From Dayton, Ohio! (They were kind enough to email me and let me know I'd screwed up when I thought they were from New York!)
Okay, Beth and Becky from Illinois again. I had to include this picture because the last one had John and me in it too, and some people just want to see these two.
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This is Diandra and Brianna again (remember them from the first picture?). Click on their picture to get the larger version, read their shirts, and realize that about 95% of all identical twins have heard all of these questions multiple times. It's kinda fun to be able to predict human behavior, and when you hear these questions you think: "yep, I saw that one coming a mile away".
Jean and Jill from New Jersey were kinda put off that they weren't included in my photo album last year. Well, I just didn't have any good pictures that year! This time they're being arrested by an obliging officer who didn't mind having his picture put on the web (they asked him!). Book 'em, Danno!
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Oops! The tables have turned! Is this called feeling a cop or copping a feel? Probably both. I sure hope this guy's not married, or if he is I hope she isn't "web-capable!". I may have to put one of those black bars over his eyes...
This is Deborah and Donna, with me and John. We see these two every year! When the bar closes and everyone starts hanging out in the lobby, these are the two who bring their guitars out and keep everyone up and singing until.. hmm.. I think it was 6:00am this year.
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This is Bill and Tom, from Grand Haven, MI. It was their first year there this year, but I'm betting it won't be their last! (For what it's worth, my wife says they're "babelicious"). Previous reports that my wife said "hunky" should be disregarded!
Geez Louise... ya gotta be careful where you kneel! That's me wearing a pair of my brother's new jeans.
Click for larger picture! Here are a bunch of us, all hanging out in the lobby. It must be early, because you can still see some of the seat cushions and a bit of the floor. By 4:00am this lobby is crowded!
This is Jill, Jean, me, and John at our Saturday night dinner at the Fuji Steak House in Hudson. This is a wonderful Japanese steak house where they prepare everything on the grill right in front of you. We thought we'd perhaps cause some double-takes at dinner, but the rest of the table was occupied by a family with their two twin daughters, so everyone had seen the "twin thing" already. They were nice enough to take this picture for me!
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