The 8th Annual Louisville Zombie Attack Paints the Ville Red at 8:29 PM on Wednesday, August 29th!
Board up the windows and nail shut the doors! The infection is spreading, and at near dusk this Wednesday, August 29th, ALL HELL IS GOING TO BREAK LOOSE in the Highlands! That’s right! The 8th annual Louisville Zombie Attack is the unofficial kick off to the Halloween haunt season in the River City, and we have all the up to date news so you can be fully prepared for the end of days.
This is the Phantom of the Ville coming to you from an undisclosed location near the Highlands where I am currently stocking up on bottled water and toilet paper in preparation for the coming siege of the walking dead. Even for the non corporeal like myself, zombies are a grotesque and terrifying lot.
To improve my situational awareness, I spoke today with the two creative Louisville natives who started the original infection eight years ago, Lyndi Lou and John King. Lyndi is one of Louisville’s premiere tattoo artists at Twisted Images and John is currently studying Popular Culture at Berea College near the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains. I caught John by surprise while driving back home to Louisville to prepare for the coming assault on Wednesday when I asked him to recall his favorite memory of the first seven Louisville Zombie Attacks.
“Well,” he said, “being at the center of the whole thing, I’ve got to make out with some pretty hot zombie chicks. That was pretty cool.”
The first Zombie Attack was created as a celebration of John and Lyndi’s birthdays. As roommates who shared not only the same love of zombie movies but also the same date of birth on August 29th, they decided to make themselves up as the living dead and invite a few friends to join them on a walk from their apartment to their favorite local bar. They were shocked when the word got out and 89 zombies showed up to join them.
Last year that number had grown to somewhere between 8,5000 and 9,000. Legion.
Such monumental growth has given way to some growing pains. It’s not just a little gathering of friends anymore, it’s a civic event. For the last three years, John and Lyndi have gotten city permits, hired police officers for security and paid for expensive insurance to cover the entire event. While it’s still a FREE EVENT to the public (their local business sponsors certainly help but can’t cover all the expenses), they are taking donations on their website at www.louisvillezombieattack.org/donate. John says, “If everyone who came out and enjoyed the event just donated $1, our bills would be paid.” These donations would also keep the event FREE and run by the original creators. Recently, John and Lyndi’s little party became the target of a hostile takeover by someone who attempted to force them to sell their creative ownership in the interest of making it a “for profit” enterprise. Their zombies have attracted the sharks.
Due to some last minute changes, Lyndi wants to give our readers the latest and most updated information about this year’s Louisville Zombie Attack. The official website is www.louisvillezombieattack.org for further updates. There are four meeting places and pre-parties for this year’s shambler shenanigans:
The Back Door at 1250 Bardstown Road in Mid City Mall is hosting a screening of “Return of the Living Dead” from 6-8PM on a giant screen TV. All ages are welcome to gather in the Back Door’s parking lot at 8PM to await the surge of the living dead at 8:29PM, but John and Lyndi ask that you please don’t assault the rest of the Mid City Mall parking lot.
The Big Bar, a fairly new Highlands joint, at 1202 Bardstown Road is hosting a pre-party from 6-8PM which will feature drink specials and a raffle for a gift basket from Old Forester.
Both locations of the Highland Tap Room are hosting pre-parties and zombie walk parking lots and staging areas. The original Highland Tap Room is right across the street from Mid City Mall at 1279 Bardstown Road and the new Highland Tap Room Grill is located down the street at the corner of Bardstown and Grinstead at 1058 Bardstown Road.
No matter which starting location you choose, there will be a countdown by volunteer zombie staff members and at precisely 8:29 PM the whole grim procession of ghastly ghouls will march towards the Monkey Wrench at 1025 Barret Avenue, devouring anyone who happens to be in its awful path. This year the police will have the path blocked off plenty of time in advance, so the streets will belong to the dead.
At the Monkey Wrench, the dead man’s party is just beginning. All ages are welcome for the outdoors activities which will include food and drinks provided by Louisville’s own Taco Punk! Be sure to visit the t-shirt booth where you can get an official Louisville Zombie Attack 2012 t-shirt and sign up for the Costume Contest which will take place at 10PM. Entertainment will be provided by OK Zombie, Squeeze-bot and a family friendly performance by the Va Va Vixens.
The categories for the Costume Contest include Grossest, Zombie King & Queen, Best Overall and the always popular “Hottest Zombie.” Lyndi remembers the year that the Hottest Zombie contest ended in an all out cat fight.
“These two girls just went all out out bare knuckles,” she said. “And neither one of them even won! They were basically fighting over being the second hottest zombie girl!”
After the Costume Contest, the party moves inside and all the little zombies need to go home and get some sleep because they’ve got school the next morning. The Vivel Brothers Band, the Vice Tricks and a much less family friendly performance by the Va Va Vixens will provide the late night entertainment.
After hosting this bloody affair for the last seven years, John and Lyndi are bound to have seen their share of strange sights. I’ve “walked with the zombies” myself and I’ve seen zombies climbing on city buses, zombies terrifying unaware commuters on their way home from work and zombies attacking local shops and restaurants. I’ve seen Elvis zombies, Santa Claus zombies, Marvel Comics zombies and little kid “Resident Evil” zombies. But what are some of John and Lyndi’s favorites?
“I saw a Little Orphan Annie,” says John, “that was dragging her little dead dog behind her. That was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen,”
“I think one of the coolest zombies I’ve seen,” says Lyndi, “was this giant Hello Kitty zombie. That was amazing.”
Even though I spoke to each of them separately, they both had the same favorite pick for best zombies. I spoke to Lyndi first and she spoke very highly of the group of girls dressed as the undead versions of the Disney Princesses. When John picked the exact same group of flesh eating Disney heroine icons, I knew these two ex-roommates were still twins of evil. You can’t stop them. The dead can’t die.
For all last minute updates go to www.louisvillezombieattack.org and if you love the Louisville Zombie Attack as much as we do here at Louisville Halloween, please consider a small donation (not an arm and a leg) at www.louisvillezombieattack.org/donate.
