So as you may know from previous blog entries and Twitter, the ZRC attended the ‘Nightmare on Chicago Street’ event in Elgin, Illinois on Saturday, and we even managed to strike a significant blow for Zombie Rights along the way. More on that in a later post.

But before we get into our own ZRC adventure, it’s worth noting that ‘Nightmare on Chicago Street’ is far and away the most elaborate Halloween party I’ve ever seen put on by, well, anyone. This felt less like a civic event and more like a one night, tragically Living Supremacist theme park, a stroll through some colorfully insane Armageddon.

Check out some of our photos from the event to get a sense of what I’m talking about (full flickr set here):

The shops and businesses along the street played along, with areas open to the public denoted as ‘Safe Zones’ or Shelters and closed areas marked as being under Quarantine:

Simulated carnage was everywhere, with bodies lying in the street, bags of faux-biohazardous material piled everywhere and barrels full of radioactive goo and body parts all over the place:

The event had an elaborately developed backstory, complete with news publications heralding the Zombie Apocalypse, televisions playing local news related to Zombie attacks, even Zombie ‘experts’ cashing in on the supposed End of the World (or perhaps, End of Elgin):

Did I mention that the newspapers actually existed as souvenirs, and that the videos played during the evening are up on Youtube for anyone to see? Well, they did, and they are. You can watch all the videos at the Nightmare on Chicago Street youtube channel here.

A couple of highlights include the inevitable apocalyptic news broadcast and even commercials touting Anti-Zombie products and sales:

I have to admit, taking on a scene like this with our Zombie Friendly message was a bit daunting. How could the ZRC prevail? Would a message of Zombie Tolerance be well-received in Elgin? Check back soon for the results of our effort to spread peaceful coexistence in the face of such considerable adversity.

Tags: Anti-Zombie Public Event, Public Appearance, Social Justice, Zombie Public Event

This entry was posted by John Sears on Monday, October 31st, 2011 at 1:31 am and is filed under Zombie Media, ZRC News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.