Zombie hordes will be descending upon downtown Newmarket for a new family-friendly event planned for Halloween.
The Newmarket Main Street BIA gave its blessing Sept. 1 for a zombie walk organized by the St. John Ambulance York Region, to take place Oct. 31. The event is planned to include a variety of activities and a downtown walk with people dressed as zombies.
The event would act as a fundraiser for St. John Ambulance, but the organization wants to promote local shopping as well.
“The hope is to have basically a bunch of zombies come to Main Street Newmarket for a day,” St. John Ambulance business representative Jason Colterman said. “Where the businesses can become involved and attract business to themselves while also having a family-friendly event in the community."
The idea is inspired by the Toronto Zombie Walk, which has not run in several years. The organization planned to run this in 2020 but pivoted to run a virtual event due to the pandemic, with people doing different challenges through social media.
Colterman said both the municipality and chamber of commerce have also been receptive to the concept.
“It’s a fantastic idea,” Councillor Bob Kwapis, who sits on the BIA board, said. “To have the St. John Ambulance do a zombie walk, I think that’s just great.”
The event has proposed to operate from either Main Street, with a street closure, or the Riverwalk Commons, with a few different route options. Activities being considered include zombie makeup tutorials, a scavenger hunt involving local businesses and costume contests. General admission would be free, but some activities could have fees, as well as a paid insider pass. The final details of the event remain to be determined.
After discussion, the BIA board approved a motion for the event to go ahead on Halloween Sunday in the afternoon, compliant with any public health regulations. However, the BIA plans to survey its members to inform their position on details like location.
BIA chair Tom Hempen asked about COVID-protocols and capacity limits. Colterman said St. John Ambulance still needs to discuss that with York Region.
“We don’t want to impact businesses, where the local hairdresser can’t have someone come because there’s too many people in the neighbourhood. We want to make sure we’re not having a negative impact on anybody,” Colterman said.
To that end, BIA members asked for the event to be held on a Sunday versus Saturday, given more businesses are closed on Sunday.
Hempen said the BIA would need to have a broader discussion in the future about hosting more street events.
“If we’re going to talk about many events, I think you’re going to see a lot more opposition,” Hempen said. “There are some pretty passionate people who don’t want to see the street closed at all.”
