Lindpocalypse
Joel Martin/Columbia Basin Herald Ellis Cody, left and Mary Ann Clemmer lead the Zombie Walk through downtown Lind on Saturday.
Joel Martin/Columbia Basin Herald Destiny Sheriff, right, turns Christi Eakin of Lind into a decaying corpse for the Zombie Walk Saturday, while Ellis Cody touches up his makeup in the background.
Joel Martin/Columbia Basin Herald P.J. Jacobsen, left, and Jamie Schmunk make up the lunatic-medical professional contingent of the Lind Zombie Walk Saturday.
LIND — The turnout wasn't huge for the Lind Zombie Walk Saturday and Sunday, but the folks who were there had a wild and gory time taking over Lind Town Park and shambling through the streets in search of edible gray matter. The Zombie Walk began with a parade Saturday and moved on to a paintball zombie-shooting gallery and two scary-but-family-friendly movies, finishing up with a cakewalk and trunk-or-treat for the kids Sunday evening.
The walk was the brainchild – so to speak – of Mary Ann Clemmer and her husband Ellis Cody. Cody had been involved in a haunted house in northern California for a number of years before coming to Lind. So when talk at a Lind Chamber of Commerce meeting turned to ideas for an October event, he said, “my hand was the first one up.”
His persona in previous zombie activities was that of a “trapper,” Cody said as he carefully applied his black-and-white makeup at a picnic table. “I keep the zombies where they need to stay.”
Not that there was any containing the younger set. A small mob of children ran, whooped and cartwheeled their way through the park in their gruesome finery. Meanwhile, Moses Lake artist Destiny Sheriff turned the adults into the walking dead, creating disturbingly realistic wounds and putrefied flesh. “It's just a hobby,” Sheriff said. “This is the first time I've done this for multiple people.”
Her human canvas of the moment, Christi Eakin of Lind, was outfitted as a cowgirl. She had originally planned to be either Annie Oakley or Jessie from the “Toy Story” movies, she said, but couldn't find all the necessary accessories.
Chamber president P.J. Jacobsen sat nearby costumed as a nurse, a pair of (plastic, thankfully) severed limbs on her lap, while Jamie Schmunk roamed the park in doctor's scrubs and carrying a bloody (also plastic) meat cleaver.
About 50 to 75 people turned out Saturday, many of whom arrived after the parade, according to Clemmer. That may not sound like a lot, but for a brand-new event in a town of fewer than 600 people, it's not a total bust either.
“We had planned for a lot more, but you never know with a little town who's going to show up,” said Jacobsen. “We had hoped to turn this into a tradition. It was a lot of work for just the few that came. But then your first year's always going to be tough.”
Clemmer was pleased with the results. “We did OK,” she said. “The kids really ate up their prizes and the paintball booth. They just really had a good time.”
Results of the costume contest and attendance figures for Sunday weren't available at Herald press time.