The Tom Zombie Festival aims to be fun way for participants to celebrate a love of fantasy, sci-fi and horror by dressing up and being part of the action. It seemed to be doing just that on Saturday for visitors from a wide range of ages and, organizers note, from a wide geographical region.
The entrance building to the Elgin County Railway Museum acted as a home base for fans eager to meet Vincent M. Ward who played Oscar on AMC’s award winning series, “The Walking Dead” while the MCR repair shops provided just the right hint of historic industrial creepiness for the haunted tours. Outside, the undead could roam in search of the right music, food and make-up to get into character.
The entrance building to the Elgin County Railway Museum acted as a home base for fans eager to meet Vincent M. Ward who played Oscar on AMC’s award winning series, “The Walking Dead” while the MCR repair shops provided just the right hint of historic industrial creepiness for the haunted tours. Outside, the undead could roam in search of the right music, food and make-up to get into character.
Above - Rob Verkest (Ringmaster), Vincent Ward, John Allan (Silas Grundy), John Migliore (Tom Zombie 2012), Melanie Matthews (Tom zombie 2013) (1); Mary Kate, Danielle & Louis (2); Tylor gets his face painted with Dotsy's (3); Ellia with mom Michelle and friend Emily (4).
Bryan Bakker, the primary event organizer said, “We had hoped for between 600 and 900 people, and we estimate now that we had somewhere between 1200 and 1500.”
While attendees themselves contribute much of what is needed for the festival experience (creepy make-up, scary costumes and a sense of drama) the festival also requires resources and lots of volunteers for the organization and execution of a winning event. To date it has managed with a frugal budget. Bryan is hoping this year’s success can be parlayed into greater support to further develop the festival which the organizers feel has potential to bring money into the economy, promote sponsors and preserve heritage through a festival story-line based on local legend.
Bryan says, “Now that we have shown what this festival can do on a shoestring budget with only in-kind sponsorship, social media and press release driven promotion, we’re sure that there will be a lot of organizations and businesses in our region who will want to be a part of it in a more substantive way for next year.”
While attendees themselves contribute much of what is needed for the festival experience (creepy make-up, scary costumes and a sense of drama) the festival also requires resources and lots of volunteers for the organization and execution of a winning event. To date it has managed with a frugal budget. Bryan is hoping this year’s success can be parlayed into greater support to further develop the festival which the organizers feel has potential to bring money into the economy, promote sponsors and preserve heritage through a festival story-line based on local legend.
Bryan says, “Now that we have shown what this festival can do on a shoestring budget with only in-kind sponsorship, social media and press release driven promotion, we’re sure that there will be a lot of organizations and businesses in our region who will want to be a part of it in a more substantive way for next year.”
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