iN PHOTOS: Kamloops zombie walk a “spontaneous community theatre” event

KAMLOOPS – A hoard of zombies came marching through downtown Kamloops today.

For the past 13 years local dancer and entertainer, Bonnie McLean, has lead the Kamloops Zombie Walk.

“It started because I heard other cities were doing it and I thought ‘Yeah I wanna be in a zombie walk,’” McLean says.

She says the first walk was her and “five or six friends just wandering around.” Then it started to grow, and McLean estimates there were up to 70 to 75 zombies marching at its peak.

This year the zombie hoard was relatively small at about 10 to 15 zombies, but McLean says she likes it that way as too many can be difficult to coordinate. For McLean it’s not about organizing a large parade, the fun of zombie walk is bringing “spontaneous community theatre” to the streets.

“I like that getting people out to doing fantastic costumes and participating in guerrilla theatre."

Those who walked down Victoria Street or sipped espresso in Zack’s Coffee today around 2:30 p.m. would have seen the zombie mob moaning, growling and dragging their feet down the sidewalk.

Dogs barked. Kids hid behind their laughing parents. There were two dance performances, a couple of zombie hunters and a growling contest. Zombies were then invited for drinks in costume at Red Collar Brewing Company.

McLean says the after party is the time she gets to meet the people who participate in the walk, often it is the only time of year she gets to see her fellow zombie enthusiasts.

"If they don't come out for a drink afterwards I don't talk to them,” she says. “I don't know their names and I wouldn't recognize them if I saw them in the street because they did great makeup right?”

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