Zombie Walk roundup!

[rockfotze]

Well yesterday was it, the day of the Brisbane Zombie Walk as organised by yours-truly. It was a massive success despite some negative incidents. I shall share all in point-form:

THE GOOD

• While it's only an estimate there were apparently 1500 people at this years walk. I think it can be safely assumed there were over 1000 people.
  
• So many friends of mine turned up, even ones who I thought might be "too cool" for the event, which was really, really lovely to see. One friend, Mike, came up from Newcastle just for the walk! How awesome is that?
  
• Despite the lack of police (more on that in a moment) I found the crowd easy to direct and willing to take instructions, though the ones at the front were a bit too eager at times and left most of the crowd behind as they lurched a little too fast.
  
• There were so many photographers, many of whom even dressed up! And lots of people with video cameras. I'm sure most were for personal use but I believe there were a few news crews and film makers there as well (I saw a lot of crews interviewing people).
  
• Lots of kids there, which is just too freaking adorable! One little boy who could only just walk was having the time of his life, growling at random passers-by and staying in character the whole time. There were even baby-zombies!

There were SO many people at the after-party. Making it all ages and free entry really made it a success. Mum and Mike were run off their feet with the sausages (we not only broke even but made a small profit so I was able to cover some of the cost of the posters we got printed).

Seeing dozens of zombies carving up the dance floor (and going especially wild when "Thriller" came on was pretty damn exciting.

I got a lot of positive feedback from people at the after-party (complete strangers were even hugging me when they found out I was the organiser) and have been getting heaps more today.

There was an awesome article thanks to the Brisbane Times: Undead take over city

As well as a fantastic news story (you can clearly see us lying on the ground at the front): Zombies take over Brisbane City (I've been watching this over and over, it just makes me laugh)

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

• NO POLICE!!! I do not know what happened but am really unimpressed. I made sure to keep in contact with them, get the permit from them and do what I had to do. I even got a call form them on the way to the walk at 2pm asking when we planned to set off, how they would recognise me and telling me they'd be there. I hope they have a good excuse for not showing up, I was really disappointed.
  
• As a result of the lack of police there were some incidents. Some minor like participants getting carried away with "attacking" civilians. If they laugh or play along then that's cool. But when they recoil, yell or ignore you then LEAVE THEM ALONE. It's very basic and yet people seemed to forget it in all the fuss and excitement. I was also really annoyed at how people thought wiping blood and even spitting it on buildings was a good idea. And to the teenagers who thought it was OK to put bloody hand prints on people, zombie or otherwise - NOT COOL! I had to push one guy away who insisted on putting his bloody hand on my face, my sister and her friend Allie were covered in hand prints which they didn't want and people were doing the same to civilians. Seriously, what the hell guys.
  
• Even more disappointing was how, at the end of the walk while myself and my friends were trying to get people to start following us to the after-party, a guy decided to throw himself off the bus-shelter type thing the photographers were standing on (down below people were all acting like a ravenous mob of zombies for the cameras) as though he was on stage and they were a mosh pit. The result? Good friend dizzay was injured and had to be taken off in an ambulance with a concussion as well as neck and back injuries. The worst thing is, I did not know about any of this until a few hours later at the after-party, and I only discovered it was Diz this morning.
  
• I received a few emails last night/this morning berating the organisers for not doing more after the accident. One of them was quite rude. I explained that I did the organising by myself with the help of friends and family only, and at the time it happened we were trying to direct people into the Valley to either go to the after-party or else to public transport. In fact half of us had rushed ahead to get Planet open and ready for the after party.
  
• There's been some negative feedback about how we had DJs at the after-party instead of bands, how the drinks weren't cheap enough, how the party was too busy and that the sausages were "overcooked". I'm pretty appalled since the other option was no after-party at all. But I've been calm and just told people that we did the best we could in the grand total of six weeks we had to organise everything. I don't know, it just seemed really petty when no one made them go. Oh and I don't think most people minded the music since there were dozens of zombies danced for hours on end.

I'm going to have heaps more to write but am so tired right now I think I need to go to bed so I can function at work tomorrow. Oh and I didn't take a camera so I'm currently compiling photos from the day from various sources (and then slowly editing them all), so for now here's a great one of me, Allie (with my sister Erin behind us):

Comments

[milli.livejournal.com]

That is fucking RAD!!! Well done! :D

[vikingcarrot.livejournal.com]

Shit, Dizzy got hurt. How badly? I only saw her at the beginning... shit, I hope she's all right.

[dienacht.livejournal.com]

Concussion and neck and back injuries. Nothing permanent but nasty and painful none-the-less. Which is why I'm getting so mad at the people telling me off for not being there to help out after the incident. I wish I had! God it's bad enough happening to a stranger at an even I was running...but a good friend? I feel dreadful enough already without people berating me for not being everywhere at once.

Luckily Diz is a trooper and seems to be recovering OK. I am so thankful it wasn't any more severe with broken bones, or you know, fatal :(

[vikingcarrot.livejournal.com]

Well furthermore... what, exactly, could you have done that wasn't done already? You can't stop people from doing random shit like that.

And as for the handprints and bothering uninterested bystanders... ughhhh.

I saw a guy at the end of the QSM - where Krispy Kreme is - having what I'd say was a pretty bad epileptic seizure. At first people weren't sure if he was acting, but he wasn't in costume and it was soon pretty clear that it was genuine. Luckily lots of people were around including a cop, and an ambulance arrived in pretty short order. But I felt so bad for him - it probably wasn't caused by zombie activity, but what an awful thing to experience while people are acting the fool around you and making people have to wonder if you really need help.

[keepclose.livejournal.com]

so amazing! i wish i could have taken part in that.

[mekare-enra.livejournal.com]

The photo is awesome! Can't wait to see more.

xx

[http://users.livejournal.com/_telecaster/]

Looks like you had a bunch of fun ^^

[arachnerd.livejournal.com]

it's really too bad about the bad things. but i'm glad there were so many good things for you to mention to. :)

i hope your friend is all right after getting injured. :(

[good-like-jesus.livejournal.com]

That photo is AWESOME!

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

You are awesome! The idea is completely super awesome and you rock for pulling it off =D Boo for the asshats and what's up with the police? When you try to cooperate with them and they can't even do their job, tsk. Hope they had a good excuse

[tangochocky.livejournal.com]

You did an awesome job Cara, fuck the other people who aren't grateful for the good job you did! I'll help you with it next year if you like, since I doubt I'll be working so much, will have more time for FUN!

[melonoma.livejournal.com]

Duuude, I would've loved the DJs even though i'm not really a DJ girl. Anyone that has the vision to play Thriller at a Zombie party wins in my books, so boourns to those who had a whinge about it.

Glad it worked out pretty well though! Plus, you look like a damn fine minx, even as a zombie :)

[albertmactan.livejournal.com]

well done on the organising - considering the increase in numbers from the previous two, it went pretty well overall. I was very surprised though that there was less police then last year, especially since they made such a big deal about the lack of police in 2006.

[dienacht.livejournal.com]

I don't think there were any police this time! I'm still waiting to find out why, as it could have been a terrible day with terrible consequences (ie. no future zombie walks). But as is I think it went really well and there was nothing severe enough to compromise future walks.

Cara :)

[night-child80.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear not everything went according to plan (police) and not everyone appreciated the effort, but I have to thank you so much for organising this year's walk. It was downright awesome and we had so much fun! (^_^)

[dienacht.livejournal.com]

I think it was a huge success despite the few dickheads who felt the need to act like idiots. But after all, what else can one expect from a group of some 1500+ over-excited people? I reckon we're all lucky there weren't more serious incidents with that many people. And now I have a year to plan the next one, as opposed to the 6 weeks I had this time, things should work out even better next time!

Cara :)