It's hard to keep a good Toronto undead, dead. So with the slightest twitch of an infected, newly departed soul, the beginning of the end starts to rise from the grave, eager to seek the brains of the living and enjoy the shuffling, mindless wandering of a mob of muttering zombie friends.
When Toronto lost the annual
Zombie Walk in 2015 the undead howled in frustration and put away their blood. The problem was not lack of interest, but the usual lack of money. Costs associated with the walk were substantial - police, blood cleanup, insurance are expensive and since they couldn't raise the necessary funds the walk had to stop. But the zombie fever ran deep and scattered groups of the undead have begun to start their own walks. You can organize a walk and post the information to the Toronto Zombie Walk site. Seven independent events are scheduled for Toronto in October including the St Clair West Zombie Walk and a veggie lovers Zombie Walk where they will stalk grains, you know, cultivated cereal crops. St Clair West had a great turnout and promise to be back for next year.
One of the events was the Undead Army's chariot pull at City Hall on Saturday, October 29 from 1 to 5pm. "Banding together for the love of zombies and Halloween, join us on our march for the Toronto Zombie Walk at Nathan Phillips Square. We have built a chariot to be pulled by the undead (who for safety reasons will be kept on chains). The more zombies the better as we will also be joined by a professional photographer. Dress however you'd like but leather and spikes are deeply encouraged ;)". I left City Hall by 2:30pm sad that I had only seen a few zombies and no sign of the chariot, so I hope that the brains of the living brought more of the undead out for a feast after I had left.
Still upcoming is the
Church Street Zombie Walk on Halloween night Monday, October 31. The fiendiesh ghouls will gather for pre-walk drinks at Glad Day on Church from 6 to 8pm, then begin their walk at 8pm. Actually the Church Street Halloween block party is supposed to be Canada's best and I have to attend this event sometime in the near future, so the zombies are just an extra bonus for those that drop by. Here is the information on the free, fun and inclusive Church Street Zombie Walk.
"They say Halloween night is the one night of the year that the thin veil between the living and dead gets lifted and the dead walk the earth. Join this group of walking undead as we stumble up and down Church Street during Canada's largest outdoor Halloween party and devour the amazing costumes and many photographers to be found on the strip.
The evening starts with a meet-up at 6:00pm at the newly reopened Glad Day (499 Church Street) where our zombies can collect and enjoy a few drinks to help get our zombie stumble perfected while enjoy the view of the costumes and action on the street.
At 8:00pm we will release ourselves onto the street where people from all ages may join us and head south on Church street, turn left (east) on Carlton, left (north) on Mutual street, left (west) on Wood to rejoin Church street and head north through the crowds and end at Barbara Hall Park (beside the 519 community centre). See route map here:
https://goo.gl/maps/ug551RQ5Ddz".
Maybe the massive Toronto Zombie Walk will itself return from the dead, until then Trick or Treat and have a nice Halloween.
