Drive around Seattle and they are impossible to miss: Much like the changing of the leaves, the unmistakable neon orange of Spirit Halloween stores springing to life in vacant strip malls is a sign that fall is upon us. Perhaps nobody appreciates the season more than the man behind these megastores—though now he sees it from a different vantagepoint. As a boutique hotelier in Twisp, a small town in the Methow Valley, Joe Marver is more than a three-hour drive from the nearest Spirit Halloween location in Everett.

Marver, or Joe Baby according to his Twisp River Suites nametag, has logged countless hotel stays of his own. Back in the day, he racked up hotel points while crisscrossing the country scouting locations for his yearly Spirit Halloween popups. Those nights were spent in corporate chains lacking character and personal touches.

When he decided to put down roots of his own, Marver settled on his passion project: a hotel experience far from mass-produced conformity, built on radical hospitality and borderline insane attention to detail.

This was what turned Julie and Tim Robinson into regular guests at Marver’s hotel. After a river rafting trip in nearby Leavenworth, the Bothell residents stumbled upon a small boutique inn that just happened to have their saving grace—a weekend cancellation freed up a last-minute room for the tired travelers.

The room they entered was technically one of the hotel’s dedicated pet suites across from the main human-only lodging. Even so, it was “for lack of a better word, bougie,” Julie remembers. From the doggie door leading to a private fenced-in courtyard to the plush pet bed and outdoor dog bathing station, Marver had thought of every detail for guests, human and otherwise. It’s not surprising: He remembers the name of every dog who stays at the hotel and wins their affection with a pocket stash of treats at the ready.

The Robinsons immediately booked a return trip. Not only had the suites themselves captured their attention, but Marver was an attraction in his own right.

“We fell in love with him right away because he had a quirky, funny, dry sense of humor like us. …We adopted him as our dad from day one,” Julie says.

In Twisp, time is measured in back porch hangs, and at Twisp River Suites, relationships are built on its riverside Adirondack chairs. There’s nothing quite like taking a slice a fresh-baked quiche from the hotel’s immaculate daily breakfast spread out to the porch overlooking the Twisp River. It was there while chatting with the hotel’s operations and marketing manager Kori Rowell Burwell that Julie Robinson discovered one reason behind her instant connection with Marver: they’re both nuts for Halloween.

One fall day in the early 1980s, a woman’s clothing store owner in Castro Valley, California, stared out the window of his business at another storefront, a costume shop unable to contain a hoard of Halloween customers. Marver was always an “idea man” per friend and business partner Tonia Farinha. The following season he ditched the dresses and carted seasonal merchandise into his store.

What followed was a raging success in temporary retail. Marver founded Spirit Halloween in 1983, sold the cash cow to Spencer Gifts in 1999, and continued consulting with the company from Twisp until 2014. Always an avid vocalist, he spent many post-work evenings during those consulting days performing in the Twisp River Tap House to scratch his live music itch. The empty lot next door intrigued him.

“Once you're an entrepreneur, you're always an entrepreneur…it’s in your blood,” Farinha says, unsurprised that Marver didn’t settle into a quiet life of quasi-retirement.

According to small town rumors, the lot sat for sale because the pub noise would be unbearable for housing or out-of-towners trying for shut-eye. Marver pitched a tent to judge for himself. Turns out, the noise was overwhelming…but it wasn’t coming from the pub. The babbling of the Twisp River drowned out any debauchery or open mic jam.

“The brain started to work like it always does,” Marver remembers. He bought the land and started watching a whole lot of HGTV. He’d pause, take photos, and scribble notes mid-episode. Within two years, he had a completed two-story building flanked in Corten steel. Twisp River Suites was born.

Inside, suites akin to entire apartments decked out with hardwood floors, fully equipped kitchens, cozy fireplaces, and plush porch swings on private balconies signaled months of Marver’s work with local civil engineers and designers. Rowell Burwell happened to be one of the fledgling hotel’s first guests in 2012. Paint was still drying on the walls.

“He's running around pouring wine for everybody, playing music, and all the guests are best friends. I’m like, What is this magical place I’ve landed in?” Rowell Burwell remembers thinking.

The suites still hold that magic today. The Robinsons have made the pilgrimage over 20 times to relish in Twisp’s hiking trails, mountain biking, river rafting, and dining at La Fonda Lopez. In the winter, the draw of cross-country ski trails and the nearby Winthrop Balloon Roundup keep them making the drive.

And of course, they come for Marver. Even if they camp and forgo an in-suite stay, the couple walks to Twisp’s Saturday market with Marver and invites former employees to float the river or kick back around a campfire.

Obviously, Halloween is big around the Suites. In the pre-Covid days, the lobby fielded over 200 trick-or-treaters—in a town whose population just squeaks over 1,000. This year, Marver is sponsoring the Methow Valley Community Center Haunted House—and, of course, decking it out with Spirit Halloween garb. He isn’t yet sure what he’ll dress as, but the 80-year-old has one joking suspicion: “I’ll probably end up going to hell when all this is over.”