Not everyone envisions a Valentine’s Day filled with holding hands or being frolicsome and cuddly with that special someone. Some people actually like having fun.
So ditch Russell Stover, the Valentine’s Day cop-out; it’s time to break out the fake blood and to strap on your drinkin’ boots.
The 2010 Zombie Walk will be the fifth annual convergence of like-minded, dead-people wannabes who grace the streets of Eugene every year come Valentine’s Day.
“Valentine’s Day is the bane of many people’s existence, and (the Zombie Walk) gives them something else to do that’s completely not romantic and completely fun,” organizer Erin Tiel said.
Former festival organizer and pub-crawl enthusiast Ian Dustrial also doesn’t waste his time or money with flowers on Valentine’s Day.
“We started it because we wanted to do something fun other than the typical bullshit that people do (on Valentine’s Day), and it’s a really good contrast to the whole Hallmark holiday,” Dustrial said.
It’s only typical Eugene fashion to go against the grain, and as usual, the display of zombies makes for an interesting time for both participant and observer.
The Zombie Walk started out as just a few friends wanting to do something different on an otherwise overly “lovey-dovey” holiday and has since taken off.
“The first year, there were about 12 of us, then the second year there was about 80, and the last two years there’s been about 100,” Tiel said. “After the first one, there was such a response to it that it started to become an open invite type of thing, and people just heard about it and found their way in.”
Despite the walk’s growing popularity, Dustrial suggested the rising number of participants might be diluting the original creative force and punch the event once had.
“It doesn’t have as much effect on people that it used to,” Dustrial said.
This year’s Zombie Walk starts on Sunday at 7 p.m. with all zombies meeting at the Pioneer Cemetery on the University campus. Taylor’s Bar & Grille and Max’s Tavern will be the first stops of the night, followed by Diablo’s Downtown Lounge and John Henry’s. The night will culminate with a final growl and more libations at the Horsehead Bar downtown.
“Diablo’s loves us,” Tiel said, reminiscing. “They never want us to leave.”
However, there has been some trouble with zombies filling up the bars to full capacity, forcing left-out zombies to move along to the next pub, but “everyone meets up at the end,” Dustrial said.
Like most other zombie walks, the Eugene walk is a loosely structured event that is mainly organized via Facebook, MySpace or word of mouth. Some Web site forums, such as zombiewalk.com, exist, but most officiating takes place at the local level.
A Facebook event, “5th Annual V-Day Zombie Walk!!!!,” gives more detail and information and allows to guests to RSVP to the event. As of Wednesday evening, about 80 people have confirmed they are attending. The Undead Citizens’ Alliance, the organization that has provided most of the structure for the event in the past, also has a MySpace page listing a map and schedule of last year’s pub crawl, which will be the same as this year’s.
Dustrial said spending the traditional lovers’ holiday with this alternative, new tradition beats any contrived Valentine’s Day.
“I mean, really, you can do something romantic any day of the year, but anyone that would rather save that for another day and go out and do something crazy and fun — I think that I’d much rather spend time with that person,” he said.
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