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The fifth annual zombie crawl was smaller than years past, but a success nonetheless, according to organizers.
“I’m glad how it went,” organizer Robert Titus said after the Oct. 18 crawl.
“It was a tremendous time,” said police Chief Joseph Sinagra, who had expressed concern prior to the event, which was organized quickly by Titus and some friends after previous organizers announced they wouldn’t be holding a zombie crawl this year.
Sinagra estimated there were 1,000 participants and called the event “the safest one yet.”
In past years, there had been some incidents of underage drinkers during the crawl but this year, it was a mellower, smaller crowd. Last year, there were more than 2,500 crowding Main and Partition streets. Lighter attendance this year was likely the result of many other events happening that night, confusion about whether the event was really happening and fewer concurrent zombie-themed activities.
The day of the zombie crawl was one of the nicest autumn Saturdays of the year. The village was busy, with vehicle and pedestrian traffic. When the sun set, Main St. was closed to traffic and zombies started filtering in, along with leaf-peeping tourists and other folks in the area for the Woodstock Film Festival.
Titus said the event netted enough donations from attendees and businesses to pay for increased police presence, insurance and ambulances on standby, as well as make a donation to the event’s chosen charity, Family of Woodstock’s teen suicide prevention program. But he had a similar experience as Village Apothecary owner and previous organizer Neal Smoller, who cited lack of support from the businesses who benefit most from such events as the chief reason he opted not to coordinate the crawl this year.
“I’m disappointed in the bar and restaurant owners who made money but didn’t donate to the event,” said Titus.
Asked if he will be doing the crawl next year, Titus replied, “Right now, I’m about 60 percent sure I’ll do it again, but if I do, we’ll begin planning earlier.”
