Hundreds of zombies, deranged clowns and other creatures took to the streets of downtown on Saturday, part of the annual Victoria Zombie Walk.
“This is a normal thing we do here,” quipped Rachel Reim, 14, looking like an escapee from The Addams Family, when a couple of tourists wondered aloud what was going on.
“Welcome to Victoria!” screeched someone in the crowd, creating a Tourism Victoria staffer’s nightmare.
The event, which sees participants dress up like zombies and parade through downtown, is organized by Umbrella Corp. West Coast Operations, a local not-for-profit costume-play group that raises money to help children’s charities.
Organizer Chris Barlow said it’s a fun way to usher in Halloween.
“We want it to make it as inclusive as possible, and more kid-friendly,” said Barlow, 29, dressed in black as a member of a zombie response team.
“We try to impose some simple rules, like no fireworks or crossbows or replica guns, take it easy, things like that.”
In Centennial Square, where participants gathered before the walk, there appeared to be as many spectators with cameras as zombies.
The walk attracted participants and observers of all ages — kids wearing face masks, seniors dressed as scary-looking prison escapees, undead versions of superheroes Batman and Superman — and many dogs.
Before hitting the streets, Adam Withers, 35, took time out to squirt fake blood on a severed hand at the end of a leash being dragged by his border collie, Bosco.
“This is Bosco’s sixth Zombie Walk,” said Withers, impersonating Abraham, a character from The Walking Dead television show. He was shadowed by friend Jody Rimmer, 35, wielding a baseball bat wrapped in fake barbed wire.
Tiffany Harvey, 26, came dressed up as a bloodied variation on a Star Wars stormtrooper.
“No one’s ever been a zombie stormtrooper that I’ve seen, and everybody loves Star Wars so, I thought, let’s have some fun with it,” said Harvey.
Her friend, Andrew Hale, 33, was at his first Zombie Walk, a knife protruding from his torso. “I’m a zombie guy who got stabbed and hasn’t died yet.”
Stephanie Rahl explained the appeal through her fake rotting teeth: “It’s really fun being a zombie,” she said.
“I think it’s just something that is a little off-putting. … When you see a zombie in real life you know it’s not real, but it’s still kind of creepy and gross.”
