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Grand Rapids Zombie Walk


EastownLeo

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Thirteen minutes here, with some of the great costumes: http://video.woodtv.com/?video_id=15126 At about 10:30 you can see the projected images provided by a Meijer van. Yes, corporate sponsorship.

DDA and DTA will have some 'splaining to do. Private buildings with bloody handprints, obstruction of traffic, trash and garbage (Red Bull cans, containers of zombie blood). It was a fun event for lots of people, but I didn't see anyone spending money in the stores.

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Dozens of videos now on YouTube. This one needs editing, but it's the only one with tuba time (at 1:28).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq2RpXtnnQQ

I sure hope to see video of the zombie-tuba Chicken Dance (which transpired at RPC after the walking finished). That was hilarious.

Jay Fowler was there, and we discussed crowd control issues, defacement of private and public property, impeding traffic, the PO'ed cops, and the fact that none of the zombies seemed to be spending any money downtown. It was a fun event, but generated a lot of trash and aggravated a lot of people trying to get home from events.

There's a place to suggest future "urban experiments" on Rob Bliss' facebook page.

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Jay Fowler was there, and we discussed crowd control issues, defacement of private and public property, impeding traffic, the PO'ed cops, and the fact that none of the zombies seemed to be spending any money downtown. It was a fun event, but generated a lot of trash and aggravated a lot of people trying to get home from events.

There's a place to suggest future "urban experiments" on Rob Bliss' facebook page.

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Are you seriously that negative? I can't tell if you're joking. Were there any stores open at 9:30 pm for zombies to patronize after the event was over? What was your, the stores, DDA's expectation for retail sales? Was this billed as a shopping opportunity?

Trash? Yep...comes with the territory with 1000's of people...but the DA has those guys in blue vests cleaning every day...shouldn't give you a wedgie too much longer.

I was there and found the crowd to be about 99% fun, respectful and orderly. Yes, I saw some blood on a couple of windows...big deal...nothing permanent and it was a Halloween event for goodness sake.

If the general attitude from this event is that GR was annoyed by it...we seriously need to decide what kind of city we aspire to be...because if we can't tolerate events like this we don't have a whole lot going for us in Grand Rapids.

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Hear hear. It was like what, two hours of inconvenience? And what were people expecting? Come dress up like a zombie, and buy an umbrella.

Check out this video of an overzealous police cruiser:

We're Grand Rapids. We like our streets clean, orderly and deserted.

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Are you seriously that negative? I can't tell if you're joking. Were there any stores open at 9:30 pm for zombies to patronize after the event was over? What was your, the stores, DDA's expectation for retail sales? Was this billed as a shopping opportunity?

Trash? Yep...comes with the territory with 1000's of people...but the DA has those guys in blue vests cleaning every day...shouldn't give you a wedgie too much longer.

I was there and found the crowd to be about 99% fun, respectful and orderly. Yes, I saw some blood on a couple of windows...big deal...nothing permanent and it was a Halloween event for goodness sake.

If the general attitude from this event is that GR was annoyed by it...we seriously need to decide what kind of city we aspire to be...because if we can't tolerate events like this we don't have a whole lot going for us in Grand Rapids.

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This is the type of coverage money can't buy, a great display of the vitality and enthusiasm of Grand Rapids.

The thousands that see these vids, plus all those who attended or heard about it, provide great publicity. Who knows, maybe it will leave a lasting impression on some of them, perhaps a few who become tomorrow's business leaders that decide to put stakes downtown.

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My wife and I walked down to the zombie walk the other night and thought the whole event was a blast. Over the course of the past few days we have shared with friends that we were down there which created a great opportunity for us to talk about the great time we had. I agree with arctus - a positive experience like the other night could leave a lasting impression for many of the young people that were down there for the event.

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I'm pretty sure that fake blood is water soluble (the stuff I used for the zombie walk came out of my clothes no problem) so it should wash off as soon as it rains.

The claim that the zombie walk didn't bring any business downtown couldn't be any farther off. After the walk many people visited their favorite restaurants, bars, and clubs where Halloween parties were being hosted.

The majority of people who happened to be downtown for another event got a kick out of the zombie walk. There was a lot of energy and GR felt like a bigger city where events like this happen annually.

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I'll check the building walls on my way to class in the morning, see if they washed off.

I did have concerns about a few people in the crowds. But such comes with any large event. Take for example critical mass in very large cities.. there will always be some who act completely rude to other drivers, completely tipping the balance of "share the road" rather than meeting at a halfway point. Such people are inevitable. However, I was also surprised at the lack of security at the event, and if there were a greater presence of cops, things may have been a bit calmer. (I saw one cop the entire walk. No streets blocked off. Just sitting at an intersection as if he were just traveling somewhere.)

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Wonder what a power wash costs.

For a couple of decades I've rented spaces in which to hold events. Sometimes there's a deposit. I always try to leave the space cleaner than I found it. (I also pick up the neighbors' fast food trash from my street, because I'm tired of looking at it.) All this push-back has me wondering: when you folks "don't like" the forecast, do you complain about the weather caster?

Also note that Rob Bliss has announced his next event, with major changes in venue, style, and format. Perhaps I was not the only attendee who noticed the repercussions.

It's raining.

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