Zombie Walk, Saskatoon, May 5, 2012

Text and photos (c) Robert Barry Francos
Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them
More photos can be found HERE

Saskatoon may be a relatively small city, but they have a young and somewhat transient population thanks to the University of Saskatchewan and SIAST College. That is part of the reason for the success of the Dark Bridges Festival (DBF) that occurs yearly.

The DBF is a film showcase held at the beautiful (and non-government-supplemented) Broadway Theatre, where they show different and odd genre films, including action, horror, foreign and westerns. The crowd for it gets larger every year.

A few years ago, someone figured out a Zombie Walk for Halloween, when there is usually a special horror-related show at the Broadway; people dress up like zombies and stumble from the downtown side over the Broadway Bridge, to the theater. Being as cold as it gets at the end of October, however, coats were needed over the costumes just to not freeze your braaaaain off. So, someone wisely decided that perhaps at the start of the DBF in May would be a better time for the Walk, as it tends to be better weather, so the zombie-fan crowds would be in larger turn-out.

Despite the threat of inclement weather on that Cinco de Mayo day, people gathered in good spirits at Kiwanis Park, at the base of the Broadway Bridge, at least an hour before the Walk was to start. This was my first time to be there, and was looking forward to it. Of course, I still have not purchased a new camera, so as my old one is sensitive to dampness, it was turning on and off by itself. As the weather got wetter, the less the camera worked.

According to the Old Testament, God got angry at the world, and sent a giant flood. That is kind of what happened at the this Zombie Walk in Saskatoon, when the skies boomed and then opened up, just as the walk was about to start. My camera gave up the ghost, so I left to do my own two-mile walk home in the downpour.

The zombie horde marched and stumbled slowly across the bridge, umbrellas up and soaked, with make-up thinning and dripping.

God must hate zombies, having sent another flood.

The young girl next to her is the spiting image of Kyra Schon
[Any true Night of the Living Dead fan should know the name...]

Was it the Box Store's coffee that turned her this way?

Sports zombies... an everyday event.

Even zombies want to keep a Facebook memory.

Love this look

A brother and sister Bride and Groom.
Cute, and yet also kind of creepy in many ways.

I had a  nice talk with her mom at the gazebo while the rain was falling.

Apparently, heavy metal fans just don't get the difference
between metal / goth make-up and zombies. 

I love the expression of the woman on the bench to the left.

A couple of the Zombie Walk organizers

What's the difference between a zombie and an HMO. No, really, I wanna know...

Brilliant Mariachi band for Cinco de Mayo.

My favorite Saskatoon news photographer, Gord Waldner, snaps away.
He works for the daily StarPhoenix



Wonderful Hunter S. Thompson zombie



A rap zombie... oh, wait, what's the difference?
The Statue of Liberty with a gun... there's a true oxymoron.

I understand that these guys wear the same alien zombie costumes at each Fest.
An "A" for originality, "C" for redundancy.



These sleepaway camp zombies group are local musicians and comedians.
They were coordinated and stayed in character (mostly). Kudos.

While the rain came pouring down,
the Camp Counselors sing an undead love song in the gazebo.

Neither rain nor storm nor dead of night
will stop the zombies on their walk... I can't say the same for me...