Annual Zombie Walk brings out shambling dead, food donations; STGnews Photo Gallery

Written by Mori Kessler
October 18, 2014
Zombie Walk 2014, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. Goerge News

ST. GEORGE – A small but animated horde of zombies shuffled down St. George Boulevard and through Ancestor Square in St. George Saturday afternoon for the fifth annual Zombie Walk charity event. The shambling undead donated food for Dixie Care & Share because, as event organizer David Roland said, “Zombies prefer a well-fed brain.”

Zombie Walk 2014, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. Goerge News
Zombie Walk 2014, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. Goerge News

Individuals and families showed up at Comics Plus on St. George Boulevard covered in fake blood and gore, ready to parade down the street and receive both bewildered and amazed gawks from passersby.

“Zombie walking has become a big event worldwide,” Roland, owner of Comics Plus, said.

Public reception in the early stages of the local event was pleasantly surprising, he added. The Zombie Walk partnered with Dixie Care & Share in 2012 to gather food donations and has become a bigger event each year, attracting additional sponsors and increasing crowds.

This year, the zombie horde was a little smaller but nonetheless attention-grabbing as it lumbered down St. George Boulevard.

Roland told the participating zombies there would be a bigger Zombie Walk next year, as his own time and resources in the weeks leading up to this year’s event had been taken up by another rather significant happening – getting married.

Roland met his now-wife at Zombie Walk 2011. They became friends and eventually started dating in 2012.

Zombie Walk 2014, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. Goerge News
Zombie Walk 2014, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. Goerge News

“At Zombie Walk 2013, I thought it only appropriate to propose to her,” Roland said, and he did.

Both Roland and his then-girlfriend were dressed as zombies when he popped the question, and it drew cheers from the rest of the decaying and blood-covered undead around them.

Roland and his wife were married in the latter half of September.

This year was the first time John Villan and his family participated in the Zombie Walk. Villan, his wife and their young son each dressed up as members of the walking dead.

“It was awesome,” John Villan said. “We’ll be back next year.”

Also hoping to get a larger crowd out next year, Villan added, “We’ve got to bite some more people.”

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.

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Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MoriKessler

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He enjoys photography and won an award for photojournalism from the Society of Professional Journalists for a 2018 photo of a bee inspector removing ferals bees from a Washington City home. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MoriKessler@STGnews

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10 Comments

  • Koolaid October 18, 2014 at 11:08 pm

    They kinda have the same expressions of people getting out of church.

    • Lance October 19, 2014 at 7:14 am

      I thought they were … loving Dimocrat voters calling for the govt. to save them from ….
      Ed. ellipses.

      • Koolaid October 20, 2014 at 3:05 pm

        I thought they were those who voted for your city council members and wanting your government to pay more for their zombie kids

  • tight magic undies October 19, 2014 at 1:06 am

    Brains………brains……..this way to the temple……….brains……

  • S. Carter October 19, 2014 at 11:51 am

    Actually, they look like what the church used to threaten people with if they ever told of the temple secrets!!

    • Koolaid October 19, 2014 at 1:20 pm

      Lobotamy?

    • Koolaid October 20, 2014 at 3:06 pm

      I bet most of them are wearing secret temple undies. Any takers?

  • Sugar free October 19, 2014 at 5:33 pm

    Looks like the same folks that supported the same sex marrige agenda. Not really these folks look a little thiner.

  • Shelly October 20, 2014 at 8:08 pm

    Really surprised this happens every year in St. George, although it is popular all over. I think it’s an awful thing. Pretty bad that you could be driving down the street and see this, could cause an accident. Also, small children seeing this will remember it for a long time. Do we really need to see this sort of thing? Yuck.

    • Koolaid October 21, 2014 at 4:32 pm

      Keep your kids indoors shielded from the rest of the world. Everyone else shouldn’t have to feel they revolve around the kids of helicopter parents.

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