We got caught in a zombie flash mob in 2010. I was thrilled I had my Nikon on me. My five-year-old daughter, Eloise, expressed terror and intrigue in equal amounts.
We expected to spend the crisp, sunny, October day window shopping in Carytown with an out-of-town guest and instead got the zombie apocalypse. It was righteous. I snagged some great shots of some horrifying walking dead while Eloise peeked around my friend Jordan’s hip to catch quick glimpses of the bloody, snarling, moaning, mass.
Now I know that the zombies have annually lurched through Carytown for several years.
The Ninth Annual Zombie Walk is coming up on Saturday, October 26. And the zombies descend on Carytown for a good cause.
When Anthony (DeadMason) and Josh (GreyMatter) took over the event in 2006, Ant’s father-in-law was fighting, and eventually lost his battle with, mesothelioma. Every year since 2007, the event's donations are made in the memory of Edgar Smith to The American Cancer Society.
Eloise became obsessed. She talked about zombies the rest of that fateful day in 2010.
“Remember the zombie with baby legs sticking out of her stomach?”
“Remember the zombie family? Even the baby was a zombie?”
“Remember the zombie who was actually drooling?”
She declared that she would join in the zombie walk the following year. Jordan and I asked why since she was almost too frightened to look. She said because if she turned into a zombie, she wouldn’t be afraid of them anymore. She wanted to conquer her fears. Guess what Eloise was for Halloween in 2010—yup, a zombie.
I was hopeful that she would forget the zombie walk because, though I love attention, I didn’t relish the idea of dressing as a corpse and dragging my carcass through Carytown for all my friends and acquaintances to see. There are fairly strict rules about staying in character. Zombies don’t run (unless for safety purposes at crosswalks). Zombies don’t smile. Zombies DO NOT use cell phones. Zombies don’t chitchat. They groan, howl, and lurch. They are extremely vulnerable to the stares of onlookers.
Eloise did not forget. She reminded me several times every single month of that year, and when September 2011 arrived, she reminded me everyday.
Because I love my child, I turned her into a gruesome corpse, covering her in minty tasting “blood” I’d purchased a quart of for a movie I’d made. I gave myself the same treatment. Though we had many friends volunteer to go with us, they dried up by the day of the event.
My baby zombie and me on a brain hunt—just the two of us.
It was a colder, drizzlier zombie walk in 2011, but zombies don’t notice the weather. So, we lurched. I leaned on Eloise as if my legs didn’t work and she led our slow, dead, march. We moaned from Kroger to the Byrd and back again. Eventually Eloise told me her shoulders hurt and I realized I was hiding behind my six-year-old for protection from the stares. Then we reached Can Can and people were banging on the glass.
Friends! Beaming! Laughing!
We snarled at the window as they snapped photos and waved.
Last year Eloise gave me my monthly reminders and I knew the zombie walk was going to become part of my reality. In 2012, we had friends with us and were less uncomfortable with our undead, brain-craving status. Our costumes got better too. I was a zombie tennis mom and she was a zombie on a razor, blood seeping out from under her helmet. She could still lurch on a razor, but her legs didn’t get quite as tired.
This year Eloise didn’t mention the zombie walk, so I recently asked her if she wanted to go. She said, “Of course, that’s what we do.” It is an RVA tradition, and now it is a mother-daughter tradition. We like to get undead together, and that’s OK.
The 9th Annual Richmond Zombie Walk will take place on Saturday, October 26th. If you want to participate, there is a pre-walk meet up at The Landing at Fountain Lake (Byrd Park) is at 1 p.m. The Zombie Walk will begin on the sidewalk in front of Kroger on W. Cary Street in Carytown immediately around 2:30 p.m. www.richmondzombiewalk.com.
For more Halloween events, costume ideas and more, check out our Halloween Guide!
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