Zombie Walk invades downtown in support of a good cause

Undead pirates and bloody clowns slowly dragged through Downtown Windsor as part of the Zombie Walk and Parade’s return to the city core.

Organizers estimated the walk drew as many as 1,000 observers and participants on Saturday evening, using spooky scenes to raise money for charity.

“We just gathered about a thousand people that were just going to sit at home and watch TV, and they just decided to dress as zombies and come out and be part of the community,” said Shawn Lippert, Scarehouse Windsor owner and Zombie Walk co-coordinator. “Not only did they do it just for fun, we did it for a good cause.”

In a partnership between Scarehouse Windsor and the Downtown Windsor BIA, ghouls walked Ouellette Avenue towards the riverfront between Wyandotte and Pitt Streets, collecting donations for the Downtown Mission.

While the Zombie Walk is not new to the city, in recent years, organizers have had to move the event to spaces outside the downtown core.

“We've always dreamt about coming back downtown. It started downtown, we went away from downtown,” Lippert said. “We had it at the Scarehouse, and then Renaldo Agostino (city councillor) reached out and said, ‘I want the zombie walk back downtown,’ and we got our band together and this is what we created.”

The move to bring the living dead back to the streets is part of efforts to revive the pulse in the downtown.

“It brings energy and vibrancy. It brings people who haven't been downtown in a while to experience all that's good about the city,” said Debi Croucher, executive director of the Downtown Windsor BIA.