What is the Zombie Walk?
A zombie walk (also known as a zombie mob, zombie march, zombie horde, zombie lurch, zombie shamble, zombie shuffle or zombie pub crawl) is an organized public gathering of people who dress up in zombie costumes. Usually taking place in an urban centre, the participants make their way around the city streets and through shopping malls in a somewhat orderly fashion and often limping their way towards a local cemetery or other public space (a series of taverns in the case of a zombie pub crawl).
.. thank you Wikipedia.
Where does Richmond fit into this and who runs the show?
In 2005, Roger Barr, of I-Mockery fame, decided to start a new annual event. What better way to extend the Halloween festivities than to dress up as zombies and drag yourself around town! Taking a cue from previous zombie flash mobs, that first walk had close to 100 participants who shocked onlookers in the middle of a busy Saturday in the Carytown shopping district. We even managed to make our way down through the VCU campus and surrounding areas. The event was well received by everyone, participants and bystanders alike, and a new tradition was born.
After that inaugural year, the organization of the walk was handed over to friends Anthony Meñez and Josh Bishop.
Do we do anything else zombie-related besides the actual Zombie Walk?
As of 2022 we will begin collecting donations to benefit Suicide Awareness and Prevention. As an organization, the Richmond Zombie Walk has been able to collect hundreds of dollars every year thanks to the generosity of its zombies. See? Zombies can give something back to the community instead of taking delicious brain matter. It’s a trade-off really.
Thanks to its participants/fans, the Richmond Zombie Walk consistently increases its zombie horde and strives to add another fun tradition to the Richmond area’s annual festivities.
Hope to see you there!
~ Anthony (DeadMason) & Josh (GreyMatter)