Newsletters
Julia Pugachevsky
2023-08-09T14:38:17Z
- The Twins Days Festival is an annual event in Twinsburg, Ohio, celebrating biological twins.
- Insider spoke with 17 sets of twins about what inspired them to go (or come back) to the event.
- Many said it felt like a family reunion that helped them to celebrate their bond as siblings.
NEW LOOK
Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview
Thanks for signing up!
Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go.
Advertisem*nt
The annual Twins Days festival is a three-day event in Twinsburg, Ohio, where twins and multiple-birth siblings can meet each other and celebrate their relationships.
Attendees (including friends and families of twins) march in a parade, participate in a talent show, compete in look-alike contests, join volleyball teams, and use the weekend to make new connections.
Some people have been coming every year since they were young, and others who had it on their bucket lists finally decided to go. Insider spoke to 17 sets of twins about what made the festival important to them and what made their twin relationship special.
Advertisem*nt
Darcy and Marcy
From: Pennsylvania
Years at the festival: 36
What keeps you coming back to the festival?
Marcy: The twin bond and meeting all our twin friends — it's like a big family reunion each year.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Darcy: We have a very unique relationship. We've shared surgeries, we've had different procedures done at the same time.
Marcy: We live six hours apart, and yet, I'll get up sick at night with a headache, and I'll call her in the morning, and she's been restless at night. And even when I had my son, I was in labor—
Darcy: I started having labor pains—
Marcy: And then I delivered him, and she was fine.
Advertisem*nt
Brionne and Bria
From: Georgia
Years at the festival: 1
What made you want to go to the festival?
Bria: Our mom actually told us about it in 2018, and we looked into it… we just had other things going on.
Brionne: It's mindboggling to see all of these twins.
Bria: It's been an amazing time.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Brionne: We're tight, we do everything together — we have the same corporate jobs, we're entrepreneurs together…we got the same MBA together at the same school.
Bria: You were first together with her in the womb, and now you do everything together.
Advertisem*nt
Linda and Laura
From: Sheffield Village, Ohio
Years at the festival: 45
What keeps you coming back to the festival?
Laura: It's become like a family reunion for us because we've come here so many years — we've met twins from Canada, Australia, Hawaii, California… and it's like the one time of year we get to see each other.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Linda: We have the same interests, the same careers. It makes me strive to be a better person because if she can do it, I should be able to do it.
Advertisem*nt
Jeff and Steve
From: Dayton, Ohio
Years at the festival: 35
What keeps you coming back to the festival?
Steve: Just the camaraderie — it's really just an extension of your family.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Jeff: It's something we were born into — it's not something you can join or sign up for, so we were very fortunate that God created us this way.
Advertisem*nt
Janise and Jenise
From: Jamaica
Years at the festival: 1
What made you want to go to the festival?
Janise: We've actually wanted to come since we were maybe like 10 years old? But we usually go to New York and this is the first time that we've actually been close enough to come, so we're excited.
Jenise: There's nobody saying:
Both: "Are you guys twins?"
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Janise: It's a very close and intimate connection that we can't explain.
Jenise: I'm more jovial, she's more serious, but nobody knows that—
Janise: —unless they get to know us.
Jenise: For the most part, we're similar.
Janise: 90% similar.
Advertisem*nt
Laura and Emma
From: Kent, England
Years at the festival: 1
What made you want to go to the festival?
Emma: We actually read about it in a newspaper article about two twins who got married in Twinsburg, and we thought it was really cool.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Laura: When you want to see if something looks good on you, you can try it on her first.
Advertisem*nt
Sunny and Bonnie
From: Los Angeles
Years at the festival: 1
What made you want to go to the festival?
Bonnie: We saw a viral video online and just wanted to meet more twins because we don't have many twins in our lives.
Sunny: I thought it'd be funny, and indeed it is very funny. We're always a spectacle at home, so it's nice being around other spectacles and sharing the burden of being a spectacle.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Bonnie: Tumultuous. Terrible.
Sunny: Just kidding.
Bonnie: I made these costumes for us!
Sunny: I paid her $100 for these.
Advertisem*nt
Jaren and Aven
From: Parker, Pennsylvania (Jaren: "It's the smallest city in the US.")
Years at the festival: 1
What made you want to go to the festival?
Aven: We've heard about it for a few years now and finally had a chance to come out here. I'm enjoying every moment of it.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Aven: A built-in best friend.
Jaren: It's like having a best friend at every milestone — your driver's license, turning 18, your first drink at the bar — it's unexplainable.
Advertisem*nt
Brittany and Andrea
From: Cincinnati
Years at the festival: 7
What keeps you coming back to the festival?
Brittany: It feels like a family reunion because you get to see new ones, and you get to see the same ones every year.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Both: We're very close.
Andrea: We live together, we have a house together.
Brittany: And we work at the same company.
Advertisem*nt
Nekisha and Demetria
From: Pennsylvania and Michigan
Years at the festival: 2
What keeps you coming back to the festival?
Demetria: It's super fun. We heard about it, we came the first time, and now we're going to come all the time.
Nekisha: You see everyone dressed up, all the likeness and family — you feel really accepted in this atmosphere.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Nekisha: Our iPhones answer each other! Her phone answers me, and my phone answers her.
Demetria: I'll say, "Siri, what time is it?" and her phone answers. That's so cool.
Advertisem*nt
Julian and Manuel
From: Switzerland
Years at the festival: 1
What made you want to go to the festival?
Julian: We heard of it, and it sounded very fun.
Manuel: So unique to see so many twins in one place. It's mindblowing.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Julian: It's difficult to explain.
Manuel: It's a real connection. It's really hard to explain.
Advertisem*nt
Charleen and Darline
From: Ohio
Years at the festival: 10
What keeps you coming back to the festival?
Darline: The fun of it.
Charleen: The fun.
Darline: We meet so many of the—
Charleen: —same people.
Darline: We take new pictures, we make a scrapbook.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Both: Close.
Advertisem*nt
Tom and Jim
From: St. Clair Shores, Michigan
Years at the festival: 34
What keeps you coming back to the festival?
Jim: Pretty much friendships that we've made over the years with other sets of twins from all over the country.
Tom: We host the Twins Talent Show, and have done so for 15 or so years.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Jim: You automatically have something in common — there's a bond there that lasts a lifetime.
Advertisem*nt
Lora and Lorene
From: Tennessee and Illinois
Years at the festival: 1
What made you want to go to the festival?
Lorene: We had it on our bucket list. Finally, this year, we were planning a sister's trip, and I said, "Let's go to Twinsburg this year."
Lora: There's this automatic understanding of a lot of things that we go through as twins — and now we know how people view us when we see all the twins who look alike.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Lora: I don't know if I think about that, probably because we don't live in the same place. When we were growing up, we tried to be inclusive — we never wanted to be set apart because we're twins.
Lorene: There's not really big major differences, we're very much alike — it's probably just some small tastes in food that are the biggest difference.
Advertisem*nt
JJ and CJ
From: Baltimore
Years at the festival: 8 or 9
What keeps you coming back to the festival?
CJ: Family.
JJ: And twins and multiple-births.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
CJ: I'd have to say "family" again. It's just an extended version of you."
Advertisem*nt
Kayla and Alana
From: Michigan
Years at the festival: 10
What keeps you coming back to the festival?
Alana: It's a designated day I can just spend with her. It's just our day.
Kayla: Or our weekend.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Alana: She's my best friend and my worst enemy. She knows me better than anyone else, but she also knows how to get under every single thing in my skin.
Kayla: It's someone who can read your own mind.
Advertisem*nt
Bridget and Ingrid
From: Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina
Years at the festival: 13
What keeps you coming back to the festival?
Bridget: Seeing old friends — we probably know about a dozen sets of twins really well.
How would you describe your bond as twins?
Bridget: We usually say, "What's it like not being twins?" It's all we know.
Read next
Advertisem*nt
