Zombies invade Silver Spring, as shown in this photo taken at a previous Zombie Walk. Photo by Mike Diegel.
Zombies live. At least, for one night in Silver Spring.
The 2016 Silver Spring Zombie Walk is back this Saturday, Oct. 29, complete with movie and after party.
Participating zombies will gather from 7-9 p.m. at Denizen’s Brewing Company and Arts Alley at 1115 East-West Highway. The walk itself will wind through downtown Silver Spring to the AFI Silver Theatre, where they can take in a 10 p.m. showing of “Night of the Creeps.”
The after-party starts at 11 p.m. at The Quarry House Temporary at 8402 Georgia Ave.
According to a press release, Hans Riemer, an at-large council member from Takoma Park, will be joining the walk again this year.
“Silver Spring is one the most diverse communities in the nation,” he said. “Each year on the Saturday before Halloween, we even welcome hordes of the undead to our vibrant downtown corridor.”
The Zombie Walk was started in 2008 by Eric Robbins and Karl Ericson as a result of a conversation on their blogs, Thayer Avenue and Silver Spring, Singular, respectively.
“Karl asked where people would go in DTSS if there was a zombie apocalypse,” Robbins said in an email interview. “[There] ended up being a big debate. That led to me putting out the idea that we should have a zombie walk through Silver Spring.
“‘Night of the Living Dead’ was already playing on that Saturday night in late October at AFI, and we decided to get everyone to meet at Quarry House and lumber over,” he continued. “Imagine my surprise when I walked into the Quarry House and it was packed to the gills with zombies.”
The walk went from about 150 costumed walkers that first year to about 700 the next year, and then to about 2,000 people in 2010, Robbins said.
Robbins has since turned organization of the event over to his brother Michael and Pete Tantisunthorn (of Silver Spring Inc.), who are running this year’s event after there was a year off because, according to the release, “zombies are notoriously difficult to organize.”
This year’s Zombie Walk is sponsored by Denizens Brewing Co., Downtown Silver Spring, the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, Moorenko’s Ice Cream and The Quarry House Temporary.