The first annual Gresham Zombie Walk was a success!!!

Sunshine (left) Julie (right)

As many of you know, Julie and I have been participating and volunteering for the Portland Zombie Walk for years.  We dreamed of a walk in Gresham that could benefit our local community and give our friends who were always wishing they could come to the Portland walk an excuse to gore up and shamble.

From that idea we formed a brainstorming session.  From that brainstorming session we formed a committee.  From that committee we branched out into full on event mode, volunteers, merchandise, and it all came together.  Julie and I were shaping this crazy idea into a plan, our good friend Amber took over fund raising coordinator, and our other good friend Daphne took on the volunteer coordinator position.  Although he couldn't be at the walk due to an injury, our other good friend Curtis came on as the merchandise coordinator.  Woah, we had a team!

We expected for our first year we might be able to convince 20 zombies to join us....maybe.  We hoped, at least.

As the walk shaped and the infection spread, we realized we might actually have a horde worthy of being called a zombie walk!  People even ordered shirts and bought bracelets!

The small horde we thought we would
have with us

When we arrived at the start point on Zday, right up until the moment we stood up to make the starting announcement, we only had about ten zombies.

Yup, ten zombies.  Ten zombies and seven Niall's Zombie Control Service members.  That's nearly a 1:1 ratio.

Still, we kept a positive attitude, and if we only had ten zombies, we were going to shamble with ten zombies, and we were gonna do it with a smile!  Or a...snarling growl...which is a smile in zombie terms.  It would make the Niall's crew's job a lot easier to manage a tiny horde, right?  Right.  The show must go on.

Nial's Zombie Control Service
taken by Zombot

Then the rain came-and by rain, I mean the sideways waterboarding storm-we looked at each other and said, "Well, we did say it was a rain or shine event..." as we took cover and retreated to Billy Bob's for some Wildwood Cafe deliciousness.  The shower came and went as quickly as the drinks we ordered.  When it got close to 'go' time, we headed out to the meeting spot.

A couple more zombies shambled in, but as we neared the 2 o'clock start time, it looked like we'd be a 12 zombie hoard.  Then, out of every corner of the parking lot, zombies started shambling towards us!

The whole horde

In the end, we had FIFTY zombies not counting Niall's Zombie Control Service  who did our traffic control, and the Gresham Outlook did a story on us.

Not too shabby for a first year!!!

We didn't reach our fundraising goal for our nonprofit application, however, we're closer, we've learned a lot, and we're

Julie documenting the spread of infection

planning some more fund raisers to get us there.  We hope you'll join us and help us reach our goal.

There is a donation button on this website up in the right hand corner if you are feeling generous.  We promise that your donation will go towards good things in our community.

We're still also selling bracelets and the last of our tee shirts.  You can email ZombMob@gmail.com for remaining sizes and information.

Photo from the Outlook, our local paper

We want to give a special shout out to Niall's Zombie Control Service for keeping the zombies safe and the drivers happy.  They know that zombie lives matter.

We also want to thank the Wildwood Cafe and Billy Bob's for allowing us to converge on their parking lot.

Zombot (left) Julie (right)

A special thanks also goes out to House of Shadows for giving us a bomb ending place, access to awesome photo ops, and for handing out coupons to everyone who walked with us for the haunt.

We especially want to thank all of the zombies who came from far and wide (as far and wide as Aloha) to support us.  It really meant so much to us that you all got gored up and joined us.  We can't wait to do it again next year!!

Remember to post your photos with the hashtags #gzw2015 #weallcomeback and #zombmob.

XOXO,
Sunshine

Even zombies like to photo bomb

D.I.D. you know that four of the horde are Damsel in Defense Independent Pros?
Sounds like a pretty safe event to me!

we ended the day with a little java from Caffeinated Culture Coffee Co.

One more day until zday and one more zombie makeup tutorial

There are a plethora of zombie makeup tutorials out there that include everything from chocolate sauce and corn syrup to elaborate latex appliances.

It can get super overwhelming, right?

No worries!  We love all Zombmobbers big and small at every level of makeup abilities.

Here is a tutorial that will give you some super gory effects really quickly and easily.

Enjoy!!!



XOXO
Sunshine

Rain or shine, the show must go on

Yes, this was a super duper
rainy day, but the zombies
still came out to the
Portland Zombie Walk

You read that right.  Yes, we are aware that we will be getting some rain.  Like, lots of rain.  Face it, we're Oregonians, and we risk there being lots of rain anytime we plan to do anything.

Tips for zombie makeup in the rain?

• Make sure your makeup is dry before you leave the house.
• Plan on the possibility that you may not have to wash your makeup off when you get home.
• Make sure you pack some extra blood for photo ops in case yours all washed off
• Wear a plastic poncho under your costume
• Be a zombie with an umbrella hat...even though the rest of the Oregonians will only pick on you.
• Be a zombie who just had a birthday at a Mexican restaurant and is still wearing the sombrero
• Be a zombie trapped in a plastic bag...but make sure you can breathe.  
• Be a zombie who got stabbed in the shoulder with an umbrella.
• Be a zombie who just happened to be wearing rain gear when you turned
• Zombie snowboarder...yeah!
• Cowboy zombie with a ten gallon hat
• Surgeon zombie with a poncho
• Hazmat zombie!  Yeah, level 4 is waterproof.

Bundle up ZombMobbers, we only have 2 more days until the infection spreads!!!

If you haven't hit up the Facebook page, go to Facebook.com/GreshamZombieWalk

4 days left until Zday! Here's a tutorial you don't want to miss.

There are only 4 more days left until the ZombMob takes over the streets of Gresham, Oregon.  We don't want you to be left in the dark without a clue, so here's a super awesome super easy zombie makeup tutorial.

XOXO
Sunshine