Robbins blogs for thayeravenue.com and is co-coordinator of the fourth annual Silver Spring Zombie Walk. The slow crawl starts on Saturday at 8 p.m. near the corner of Georgia and Sligo avenues in Silver Spring and will run through Ellsworth Drive ending at the AFI Silver Theatre, where there’s a screening of the zombie film “Dead Snow.” How did the zombie walk start?
There were some local blogs like silverspringsingular.com that started talking about where you would need to go in the instance of a zombie apocalypse. And then there was a showing of “Night of the Living Dead” one year at AFI and we thought, ‘Why don’t we dress as zombies?’ The first year we had maybe 150 people and then the second year that grew to 700, the next we had about 1,000.
Last year there were some problems with zombies banging on windows and other property, how will you prevent that this year?
That was just the case of some overzealous zombies. They were banging on things, crowding around cars. … It was really a fluke accident. This has been a grass-roots movement but we’re warning people that private property is private property. Please just lumber up the street and keep it simple, fun and safe.
What’s the best way to dress the part?
Blood. Blood and rotting flesh. My recommendation is pick an occupation and add blood. People … have eyes falling out, really good makeup, circles under their eyes. We had someone last year come as a zombie Beaker from the Muppets, a zombie Jedi Jesus, a bride and groom zombie. But just put on some tattered clothing and blood.
Is it weird for restaurateurs when zombies come in for a drink after the walk?
The first year they got kind of freaked out. But last year there were crowds of five or six people deep who just came there to watch. Some had signs that said ‘Zombies are people, too.’ Now all the retailers know.
— Leigh Giangreco
