Zombies roaming free

Lynchburg Zombie Walk encourages people to donate and help community

undead — Zombies and other creative costumes invaded downtown Lynchburg over the weekend. Photo credit: Courtney Russo

Undead — Zombies and other creative costumes invaded downtown Lynchburg over the weekend. Photo credit: Courtney Russo

Hundreds of zombies, consisting of moms, doctors, scarecrows, nuns, scientists and just about any kind of zombie imagineable, crept their way into the Lynchburg Community Market Saturday night, Oct. 18. Surprisingly, these zombies were not at the Community Market looking for human brains. They were there for the 4th Annual Lynchburg Zombie Walk.

Everyone gathered outside the Lynchburg Community Market at 5:30 p.m. and began walking through the streets of downtown Lynchburg.

People of all ages participated. Most of the crowd consisted of 18 to 25 year olds. However, there were also quite a few children present. First through fifth place prizes were given to the most authentic zombies. First through third place winners were chosen in a children’s costume contest as well.

The walk is an event held to raise donations for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. Patrick Hubble, organizer of the walk, shared about the heart of the event.

“Participants aren’t required to pay, however the ‘unofficial fee’ is a canned food donation,” Hubble said.

Participants could also make cash donations to the Lynchburg Dog Park.

“It’s a quirky walk with a cause,” Hubble said.

Attendees came from Lynchburg, as well as the surrounding area, to participate in the walk.

Two students from Appalachian State University, Kayleigh Bentley and Ayron Walker, came from Roanoke and dressed as zombies to take part in the event. For Bentley, this was not her first time participating in the zombie walk.

“Well, my first year, there were these three guys here dressed super creepy, and when we walked down the block, they just never went out of character, so it was really scary but really funny,” Bentley said. “I guess it’s just awesome to see all the different people and how they do the zombie.”

Darrell Wargo and Rosetta Neblett were among the handful of attendees who were not dressed to resemble the undead. They were at the event to help get word out about the upcoming Lynchburg Zombie Run.

Wargo, a Liberty graduate, shared about the run and his efforts in the upcoming event.

“I’m not a zombie, I’m a runner. I like to run,” Wargo said. “But I am helping set this place up and get some of the people out here today to do this. This run next week is a big fundraiser for the Presbyterian Youth Home through United Way. It’s more of a run, and what it is is a run through this 5K forest, and they have zombies out
there, and they try to ‘getcha.’”

The event is hosted by United Way and will be held Sunday, Oct. 26 at the Presbyterian Homes Campus. It is a 3.1-mile run followed by a post-apocalyptic party.

For more information about the upcoming run, visit runforyourlife.info.

Koenig is a feature reporter.

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