The Asbury Park Zombie Walk, 2013. All photos by Paul Goldfinger © Click to enlarge image.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Saturday, October 5: A huge crowd of walking dead (aka “undead”) slogged around the Asbury Park boardwalk to the delight of thousands of spectators and each other. The parade is all about the costumes, but most participants had a common theme of half-dead creatures with bloody clothes and gaping wounds. The roll playing usually included a menacing, stoned persona and a theme where you could be a bride, a nurse, a weird child, a butcher, a nun, etc. Some acted out little plots such as eating a body part or having a reunion of shipwreck victims.
But that was it—milling around and doing ghoulish shtick. However, it was a unique happening, and participants and observers were having fun. Crowds cheered from the upper decks of boardwalk restaurants. Many wandered into the Casino and heard a deafening loud rock duo while some others spilled out into the Grove.
For Blogfinger, we had our own Zombie competition, trying to find a photographic sampling of particularly compelling Zomboid characters. Just click on any one and then follow the arrows or click on a photo. You can enlarge a photo by clicking on the arrow in the lower right hand corner. Then click it again to go back. There is an X at the upper left of each photo to take you back here. If you want to comment, please use the regular Blogfinger comment button, not the one at the bottom of each image.
They didn’t have much music at the Walk, but here are two tunes to set the mood while you view the photos.
“This Joint is Jumpin'” By the cast of Ain’t Misbehavin with Nell Carter
and “Voodoo” by Don Azpiazu with the Havana Casino Orchestra
I had a conversation Saturday with an Asbury Park business owner (Cookman ave area). He said after several years of Zombie Walks, eateries and bars don’t really enjoy the costumed revelers as much. Zombies stay ‘in character’ long after parade…. and when you have a long line of customers waiting behind them,it becomes tedious to deal with when you are trying to do your job.
Secondly it causes problems for bar owners, as it is nearly impossible to ID people. To make sure they are of legal drinking agewhen they are covered in Zombie makeup. Who’d of thunk such issues would exist, but they do!
It got 20,000 people to AP on a not great beach day in October, which is a win. Everyone I saw was having fun, lots of people in the bars and restaurants, including the OG ones (none in the OG bars that I saw though!)
Oh Frank, PLEASE lighten up.
Maxster : Sorry but I just don’t see a herd of lemmings as fun. However I’m glad that you & they do.
I do not applaud people ” like this ” who ” like to get creative “. Rather I find them superficial & annoying. I would rather applaud individuals who are creative, unique, and special all the time everyday and without flaunting, parading, and pretending to be so for just one day/one event. Real true creative folks as opposed to poseurs.
JW : Guess you and I have a different sense of fun. Zombie walk is just too obvious, superficial, commercial, and dumb for me to think it is fun. I do though think that it is quite aptly named.
There is no comparison between Halloween and zombie walk. Halloween is an ancient tradition started by druids & pagans for agricultural reasons. Zombie walk is a recent fabrication started by hipsters and promoters for commercial reasons.
It was a Sandy fundraiser and they are now back in Guinness Record book.
Yes, Frank; where IS you sense of fun? I applaud people like this who like to get creative. It’s time for the world to lighten up a bit.
Frank S, Where’s your sense of fun? People dress up for Halloween, which is still a one-shot “holiday.”
Great photos! Think I’ll wait a bit before having dinner.
Bunch of lemmings . Wild & crazy & weird for one day then back to being normal the next. Boring. Pretty lame idea of fun.