Ear-piercing screams and guttural moans echoed throughout the downtown core as the eighth annual Ottawa Zombie Walk slowed traffic to a halt.
The walk featured around 4,000 people dressed up as various types of zombies and zombie survivors from popular culture and the imaginations of the people themselves.
The walk began in Macdonald Gardens Park and cut through the ByWard Market, the University of Ottawa campus, and ended on the stairs of the House of Commons.
This year’s walk, however, saw some tension between the participants and the city.
The City of Ottawa told organizers of the Ottawa Zombie Walk that they would need to pay approximately $3,500 to have police control traffic and maintain some order within the horde, according to organizers.
The decision to implement a police detail this year nearly resulted in the cancellation of the event, according to organizer Bryony Etherington, a former University of Ottawa student who was prepared to step down after being head organizer for three years.
Voice and audio by Emma KonradPhotos by Emma Konrad and Pedro Vasconcellos
“If I wasn’t able to get the costs covered either through sponsorship or through fundraising, and at that time, the timeline [for fundraising] wasn’t really a good timeline,” Etherington said.
“You don’t want to start something and find out you’re not reaching your goal, and end up a couple of weeks before an event that you don’t have the funds to support,” she said.
Luckily for the zombies, Chez 106, a local radio station, ultimately stepped in and sponsored the walk, paying for the escort in full.
“Doc Woody from the Morning Show read that the Zombie Walk was to be cancelled in an article and so he came to us about it. He said that he wanted to help keep this event going and that it had unfortunately become a victim of its own success,” said Gayle Zarbatany, director of promotions at the local radio station.
When asked if they would be supporting the walk next year, Zarbatany said, “I don’t see why not, but I’m not in the position to make that call.”
The walkers’ reactions to the police escort were ambivalent. Experienced walkers generally felt as though the protection took away from the spirit of the walk itself.
“The point of the Zombie Walk is a bunch of people gathering and having fun,” explained one veteran walker from Algonquin College.
“It’s non-obstructive, it’s not-for-profit, and so [the police presence] turns it into a paid event.”
“The community here is so friendly and awesome; you couldn’t feel more safe here to be honest,” added another long-time participant from St. Paul’s University.
However, other participants said that they felt more secure with a police escort.
“It does give the impression that it’s a little more professional,” said one first-time zombie from the University of Ottawa. “It’s all about our security. We’re all doing this for fun and sometimes some people get carried away,” his friend added.
Etherington also acknowledged the importance of the police presence given that the walk has “grown exponentially” since the Zombie Walk’s inception in 2005. The walk doubled this year from an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 zombies, Etherington said.
“I don’t think it would be safe for pedestrians, for the walkers, for people driving if the police weren’t involved,” she said.
“The city wanted to make sure that it happened, it’s just at a certain point you can’t ask the taxpayers to be paying for the security that is needed to run an event like this.”
