Participants of Buffalo's Zombie Walk congregated at Bidwell Parkway this afternoon at 1:30pm. I spotted them at Hodge and Elmwood fifteen minutes later, and shortly after that they were on their zigzagging way to Days Park in Allentown.
Over the years I've been less and less enthralled with Halloween. Maybe it's the 'been there done that' feeling that finally caught up with me. If there was ever an event to reinvigorate your love (or hate) of Halloween, the Zombie Walk would be it.
Rule #1 is 'no rocking cars'. That's in the Zombie Walk handbook. Really. That alone made me seek out the zombies. I wanted to see if they would actually, once in action, attempt to rock cars. Rule #2 is 'no smearing your drooling mug against store display windows'. The rules alone bring a smile to my face.
By the time I saw the mass of zombies approaching Days Park my heart actually began to race. "Where do I stand with my camera to get the best shot?" I wondered aloud. Then I thought, "If they're zombies, won't they come to me?" So I stood, leaning against a street lamp with my camera by my side. And in true zombie fashion, a hundred zombies crossed the street heading in my direction. Apparently most people intuitively get out of the way when zombies approach. But I wanted a good photo... not for Buffalo Rising per se... just to see what would happen more or less.
Boy did it happen. As the first few approached, I backed up slowly, and then quickly to get out of their path. Then I remembered that I was their path. In my retreat I was actually leading them away from their ultimate destination. Would they touch me if I let them get too close? Would they hurt me? Of course not... though they were certainly playing it up pretty good. To tell you the truth, if you've seen as many zombie movies as I have, it was more intimidating that I would have guessed. That's when I actually found myself running to get away.
Eventually I doubled back to Days Park and found the zombies chatting away. They were laughing and regaling themselves with stories from the walk. It was quite a scene to see so many of them all in one place - resurrected doctors, golfers, punk rockers, suits and so on. One of the best things about a Zombie Walk is that you don't have to dress like a zombie to be in one. Everyone who was on Elmwood today participated in one way or another... whether they wanted to or not!
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Over the years I've been less and less enthralled with Halloween. Maybe it's the 'been there done that' feeling that finally caught up with me. If there was ever an event to reinvigorate your love (or hate) of Halloween, the Zombie Walk would be it.
Rule #1 is 'no rocking cars'. That's in the Zombie Walk handbook. Really. That alone made me seek out the zombies. I wanted to see if they would actually, once in action, attempt to rock cars. Rule #2 is 'no smearing your drooling mug against store display windows'. The rules alone bring a smile to my face.
By the time I saw the mass of zombies approaching Days Park my heart actually began to race. "Where do I stand with my camera to get the best shot?" I wondered aloud. Then I thought, "If they're zombies, won't they come to me?" So I stood, leaning against a street lamp with my camera by my side. And in true zombie fashion, a hundred zombies crossed the street heading in my direction. Apparently most people intuitively get out of the way when zombies approach. But I wanted a good photo... not for Buffalo Rising per se... just to see what would happen more or less.
Boy did it happen. As the first few approached, I backed up slowly, and then quickly to get out of their path. Then I remembered that I was their path. In my retreat I was actually leading them away from their ultimate destination. Would they touch me if I let them get too close? Would they hurt me? Of course not... though they were certainly playing it up pretty good. To tell you the truth, if you've seen as many zombie movies as I have, it was more intimidating that I would have guessed. That's when I actually found myself running to get away.
Eventually I doubled back to Days Park and found the zombies chatting away. They were laughing and regaling themselves with stories from the walk. It was quite a scene to see so many of them all in one place - resurrected doctors, golfers, punk rockers, suits and so on. One of the best things about a Zombie Walk is that you don't have to dress like a zombie to be in one. Everyone who was on Elmwood today participated in one way or another... whether they wanted to or not!
Wow- a multi-paragraph article on this disapointing turnout? *sigh*. A little too little, and a couple of years too late. Kudos to those trying to make it work, but way too little interest and effort at this point in the game. Event was advertised as 1:00 to 4:00- by 1:45, there was no sign of anyone along the route. A little too windy or rainy, I guess...
Surprised to see a multi-paragrsph piece posted about this- I can see trying to hype it before it happened, but I was sure it would have been allowed to slip by with non-participatory zombie dignity once it failed as an event. Alas, no- BR trying to make a mountain out of an elmwood village molehill, in true form. What's the next trend we'll hear about a few years late, and try to spin as our own cool thing? Happy Halloween. (And I'm not one of the usual negative posters here- sometimes, though, you gotta call them like you see them.)