Stephen Larocque, left, Cody Adams, Taisha Adams, Ivy Harris, Adam Harris and Gabrielle Ziegler pose for a photo before entering the first stop on their Zombie Crawl throughout Downtown Wilkes-Barre on Saturday night.
Hannah Simerson | Times Leader
2nd Annual Zombie Crawl held in Downtown Wilkes-Barre
Nadine Christine, of Mane Street Studio, transforms Shanti Drumgoole into a zombie during Saturday night’s ‘Trot Till You Rot’ Downtown Wilkes-Barre Zombie Bar/Restaurant Crawl.
Hannah Simerson | Times Leader
Vince Polito, left, and Emily Williams creep around inside of The Mines Nightclub during the ‘Trot Till You Rot’ Downtown Wilkes-Barre Zombie Bar/Restaurant Crawl event on Saturday night. Polito, a big zombie fan, hand-made parts of his costume for the crawl.
Hannah Simerson | Times Leader
Saturday night’s ‘Trot Till You Rot’ Downtown Wilkes-Barre Zombie Bar/Restaurant Crawl offered Melissa Ellis, left, and Allie Talbot an excuse to try new businesses Downtown and utilize some old uniforms.
Hannah Simerson | Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — The walking dead lined the city’s streets on Saturday — but instead of feasting on flesh, the hordes flocked to downtown establishments for a few haunted concoctions.
The “Trot Till You Rot” Downtown Wilkes-Barre Zombie Bar/Restaurant Crawl event lured in those just dying to sample some of the city’s finest food and drinks.
The undead made their way from various Downtown businesses offering crawl-specific discounts and freebies. Among the participating businesses were Senuna’s Bar and Grill, The Down Pour, Vesuvio’s, HEAT Nightclub and Bar, King of King Gyros and The Cheesesteak Factory, The Mines Nightclub, Boozy B’s and La Cantina Amigon.
“This free event is really to try to bring some people Downtown to do something different,” said Joe Rovinsky, who spearheaded the crawl.
“Our goal is to get as many zombies as possible to go to all the different venues in our area who are participating,” Rovinsky added.
As the undead limped and shuffled into the first stop on their crawl, The Mine’s Nightclub, they were greeted with a free zombie makeover — but some had already come prepared.
“I actually did our makeup for tonight, and it was my first time using latex,” said Melissa Ellis, who attended the crawl as a zombie doctor alongside Allie Talbot.
And what better idea for a date night than a zombie crawl?
“We’ve never done a crawl, nonetheless a zombie one, and Halloween is one of our favorite holidays, so we said, ‘let’s do a date’,” Talbot said.
Talbot, a former CNA, had a bunch of old scrubs laying around, so she decided to give them new life — even in death.
“In all the classic movies, the doctor would be the first to go, so we got our stethoscopes and we’re ready,” Talbot said.
The night offered the pair a chance to join in on the fun that never seems to be geared toward adults, Ellis said.
“There’s always events for kids. There’s trunk or treat, this or that, but for adults, there’s really not much,” Ellis said.
“It doesn’t matter what age you are, you want to be able to have fun,” she added.
Besides joining in on the Halloween spirit, the Hanover Twp. residents were eager to see what the local businesses were offering.
“We’ve been to a couple of places Downtown, but not these places, so we’re excited to try something new,” Ellis said.
After the zombies crawled their way through Wilkes-Barre, they returned to The Mine’s for a “Night of the Living Dead Ball” complete with a costume contest to crown the best zombies, prizes, music and more.
The Zombie Crawl is just one of many Halloween-themed events to transform the city over the weekend leading up to Halloween, which Rovinsky coined as “Wilkes-Scare Weekend.”
Beginning last Thursday and ending on Tuesday, Wilkes-Scare Weekend” boasts over a dozen events for all ages, including costume contests, a Tim Burton-themed drag show, pumpkin carving, Halloween parties, and more. According to Rovinsky, the weekend is aimed to encourage everyone to celebrate the holiday.
“The goal of Wilkes-Scare is to build a promotional umbrella that all of these Halloween events in one central area can fit under and get more people into the season,” he said.
