‘Zombie Walk’ set for Sunday

If you see a pale, bedraggled person with a grievous head wound staggering down the street Sunday afternoon, hold up before dialing 9-1-1.
It’s probably just a zombie.

The first-ever Fort Frances “Zombie Walk” is slated to set to go starting at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Anglican Church.
The popularity of zombies in popular culture is at a fever pitch, with TV shows like AMC’s “The Walking Dead” breaking ratings’ records and an ever-growing horde of movies, video games, novels, and comics devouring people’s entertainment budgets.
One spin-off of zombie-mania in recent years has been “zombie walks”—public events where zombie fans get dressed up as the living dead and walk together for fun.
Over the past decade, these have grown in popularity so much that in major cities, they draw thousands of ghouls and sometimes are used to raise money for charities or raise awareness of issues such as world hunger.
The local event is being organized by Alex Bruyere and Allan Yerxa.
Bruyere said Yerxa, who is a “zombie fanatic,” was inspired to organize a walk locally after his daughter in Toronto told him about thousands of people walking the streets dressed as zombies.
“He looked into it, and he thought that would be really cool,” noted Bruyere, reasoning the Toronto walk has grown exponentially over the years (from a dozen participants in 2003 to 7,000 in 2011) and perhaps could catch on here.
“This year, we just wanted to try it out and then maybe next year, we’ll try fundraising for a charity of some sort,” he added.
Bruyere said anyone can dress up, come out, and join the walk. He, personally, is looking forward to getting “zombified” and participating with his girlfriend and seven-year-old son.
Bruyere added he’s aware of about 20 confirmed participants at this point, and noted some people are “putting a lot” into their zombie costumes and makeup.
According to the event description on the Fort Frances Zombie Walk Facebook page, “[Participants] can be any form of character or creature as long as they are in zombie form.”
“It is open to people of all age groups, as well as their pets.”
The walk will take place from 3-6 p.m.
The route will start at St. John’s Anglican Church, then proceed west onto Mowat Avenue.
Zombies then will shamble to Second Street East, proceed to Armit Avenue, and then stagger south on Armit Avenue, turning right on Church Street to return to St. John’s.
The walk will be followed by “zombie snacks” inside the church—as even the undead get hungry.