17 sets of twins wearing matching outfits at the annual Twins Day festival describe their special bond

From: Pennsylvania

Years at the festival: 36

Marcy: The twin bond and meeting all our twin friends — it's like a big family reunion each year.

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.

From: Atlanta, Georgia

Years at the festival: 1

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.

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.

From: Sheffield Village, Ohio

Years at the festival: 45

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, Hawai'i, California…and it's like the one time of year we get to see each other.

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.

From: Dayton, Ohio

Years at the festival: 35

Steve: Just the camaraderie — it's really just an extension of your family.

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.

From: Jamaica

Years at the festival: 1

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?"

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.

From: Kent, UK

Years at the festival: 1

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.

Laura: When you want to see if something looks good on you, you can try it on her first.

From: Los Angeles, California

Years at the festival: 1

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.

Bonnie: Tumultuous. Terrible.

Sunny: Just kidding.

Bonnie: I made these costumes for us!

Sunny: I paid her $100 for these.

From: Parker, Pennsylvania (Jaren: "It's the smallest city in the US.")

Years at the festival: 1

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.

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.

From: Cincinnati, Ohio

Years at the festival: 7

Brittany: It feels like a family reunion because you get to see new ones and you get to see the same ones every year.

Both: We're very close.

Andrea: We live together, we have a house together.

Brittany: And we work at the same company.

From: Pennsylvania and Michigan

Years at the festival: 2

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.

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.

From: Switzerland

Years at the festival: 1

Julian: We heard of it and it sounded very fun.

Manuel: So unique, to see so many twins in one place. It's mindblowing.

Julian: It's difficult to explain.

Manuel: It's a real connection. It's really hard to explain.

From: Ohio

Years at the festival: 10

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.

Both: Close.

From: St. Clair Shores, Michigan

Years at the festival: 34

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.

Jim: You automatically have something in common — there's a bond there that lasts a lifetime.

From: Tennessee and Illinois

Years at the festival: 1

Lorene: We had it on our bucket list. Finally, this year, we were planning a sisters 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.

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.

From: Baltimore, Maryland

Years at the festival: 8 or 9

CJ: Family.

JJ: And twins and multiple-births.

CJ: I'd have to say "family" again. It's just an extended version of you."

From: Michigan

Years at the festival: 10

Alana: It's a designated day I can just spend with her. It's just our day.

Kayla: Or our weekend.

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.

From: Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina

Years at the festival: 13

Bridget: Seeing old friends — we probably know about a dozen sets of twins really well.

Bridget: We usually say "What's it like not being twins?" It's all we know.