Looking For Advice

[Vila]

I'm wanting to pull togeather a Zombie Walk for Bakersfield on Christmas eve/morning. As Christmas has pretty much eraced the month of November, we're thinking that someone should take it back.

I honestly have no idea how to go about pulling something like this off. If you can share any tips or advice that would be great. The few people I've talked to here in town are all for it, but none of us have ever done this before. We want to do this Because Bako did absolutely nothing for Halloween and it would be funny as hell to wake up on Christmas only to see on the news that Zombies have taken over Downtown.

[lizardbreath]

I just threw a Zombie Walk yesterday in Sacramento and would love to throw you some pointers gathered from my limited experience.

1. Good weather is everything. It's no fun to walk in inclement weather and it's no fun to be the only one out on the streets because of inclement weather.

2. Establish the rules early on to make sure everyone plays safe and nobody gets sued. Have fliers. Read the rules aloud before the walk.

3. Pick a walk with lots of restaurants and foot-traffic. Restaurants with patio dining are particularly fun.

4. Promote early, promote often, but get confirmations from at least 8 people who swear to be there. That way at least 4 will show up. Most folks won't heckle 4 or more zombies. When you get stragglers, that's when some of the uppity onlookers will get the cajones to give your zombies guff. That can be scary. Some folks feed on it, I don't prefer it personally.

5. Pick a grassy starting place. There will be blood, lots of blood as people are gore-ing up. You don't want to be responsible for red stains on some retailer's parking lot (really, they notice these things).

6. Have at least one other Zombie Marshal to control the mob at street crossings and obstacles, should they arise.

7. Walk your walk before you commit to what path you will take. Don't plan on holding folks for longer than an hour and a half. People appreciate when the walk is a loop that ends near where they parked.

8. Commit to your walk. Even if it's just 4 of you, do it. I had 5 people join mid-walk and I imagine that's not an unusual thing.

9. Having a cause can't hurt. Folks who don't immediately get why you would want to do a Zombie Walk will probably be easier persuaded if there is a cause attached- say like a canned food drive or fund raiser or something. That way, when their co-workers look at them weird for participating in a Zombie Walk, they can say "Hey, it's for a good cause!"

Feel free to PM me with questions and comments,
-Lizardbreath

[Vila]

I've been thinking of attatching something like "Donating Blood Prevents Zombies" to some flyers for the local blood bank.

[Vila]

Myspace profile coming up!! Also, I've e-mail bombed all of the local news outlets, done one email interview with the newspaper and the guys over at Hometown Tales Radio Show have agreed to pimp the event simply because I have it on Christmas.

Here's what I have said to every city official:

Well, we're wanting to get people to donate blood. Our slogan is going to be along the lines of "Donating Blood Prevents Zombies" or along those lines. We have not quite decided on it. And before you can even ask, Houchin Blood has not put us up to it, nor are we being paid anything. We are even doing our own makeup. We’re just trying to do something good while having some fun and what better day to do it than the 25th of December?




I cant thank you guys enough for replying with your imput. If you guys ever need a body and I'm able to get there, I'll be there. I'll even bring beer for the after party.