West Bank Zombieland Here is the word from the zombie high command: More than 5,000 people (er, zombies) are expected to lurch through the West Bank this Saturday in Minneapolis. If those numbers are correct, the Zombie Pub Crawl will have doubled in size for the fifth year in a row. Its creators have picked a good name for this year's adventure -- "ZPC V: It's Starting to Stink." Co-organizer Chuck Terhark said he never imagined that this many people would want to dress up like the undead and drink beer.
"We started the spread of the zombie infection, and it just went from there," Terhark said. "That's the nature of the zombie horde."
Managing this many zombies can be a difficult task. Participants will gather at Gold Medal Park (next to the Guthrie) before the lurching begins. But to help stagger the glut of zombies crashing each bar, they've ditched a set schedule this year. Instead, Terhark said, think of this year's pub crawl as more of a "zombie pub swarm."
"Any bar that didn't take us seriously last year is taking us seriously this year," Terhark said.
There will be drink and food specials at 15 bars along the West Bank corridor. Last year's zombies were so thirsty that several bars on the crawl ran out of beer. The finale takes place at the Cabooze, with music by MC/VL, the Moon Goons and a DJ set by Solid Gold. (9:15 p.m., $8, 18 and older).
Terhark is hoping all of the pub crawl's zombies will behave themselves. "There were a couple people who were arrested last year," Terhark said. "They were staggering into traffic. And they were maintaining character as they were being arrested."
The pub crawl is free, but you can buy a special V.I.Z. (Very Important Zombie) ticket for $30. It gets you a T-shirt, poster and free entry into the Cabooze show.
4 p.m. Sat. Gold Medal Park, Mpls. Free.
