Everything you need to know about the Zombie Crawl

A zombie crawl (sometimes called a zombie walk, zombie parade, zombie shuffle, etc.) is a fun social experience in which a large group of people dresses up like zombies and "creep" from one part of a town to another. It can also include events throughout the day, such as vendors, make-up, music, food and other entertainment. Click here to see a video of the Zombie Crawl and get a better sense for what it is.

The Eureka Springs Zombie Crawl also also includes events throughout the day, such as vendors, make-up, music, food and other entertainment. In addition to crawlers, the parade features street performers, scary parade floats, grim rides, and post-apocalyptic vehicles. This is a family-friendly event, not a bar-hopping zombie pub crawl. In our case, it is also a canned food drive for our local food bank.

The event itself is free! The Zombie Crawl parade is a canned food drive, so if you want to be in the parade, we ask that you bring two cans of food in order to participate.

If you forget to bring your cans, don't fret! You can get canned food from our local Hart's Grocery Store or The Eureka Market on HWY 62 just outside of downtown.

This is the single largest event in Eureka Springs, drawing thousands of people to town, so parking downtown can be a challenge. We recommend driving in early Saturday morning or staying the night on Friday before the event. The parade begins at 6pm on Saturday, but we'll have events throughout the day beginning around 12pm.

Yes! We strive for this to be an enjoyable experience for all ages, and we welcome the entire family to participate and/or watch the spectacle. We have been organizing this event for over a decae, and many return visitors consider this to be an annual family tradition. Seeing participants put on zombie makeup often makes the experience less scary for young children. However, everyone is different and you know your kids best. If you think they can handle it, please bring them!

The Eureka Springs Zombie Crawl starts at the Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library (194 Spring Street) and crawls through Downtown Eureka Springs along Spring Street, passing in front of the Basin Park and ending on Main Street (HWY 23) by the Downtown Trolley Depot (60 S Main Street).

If you want to be in the parade:

As a walker: Register in front of the Eureka Springs Public Library at 194 Spring Street starting at 4pm

As a vehicle or float: Register at the ES Community Center at 44 Kingshighway between 4pm to 5pm.

For everyone:

Please let us know you'll be coming by marking yourself as going on the Facebook Event Page and the Eventbrite Page.

Anyone! We are proud to be one of the first parades in Eureka Springs to invite visitors be part of the spectacle, not just watch! We welcome the entire family to dress up and join the horde. Children under the age of 13 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian at all times to participate, and anyone under the age of 18 must have a parent or legal guardian register them before the event.

Be sure to check out our special Zombie 101 guide for how-to advice on zombie makeup and clothing, and helpful acting guidelines on staying in character.

Yes! We will need lots of zombie "hunters" as well. Zombie hunters walk the sidelines and bring up the rear of the crawl, and are expected to dress accordingly - gas masks, combat boots, army fatigues or SWAT tactical clothing are appropriate.

PLEASE NOTE THAT NO WEAPONS ARE ALLOWED. We will have thousands of people in town and we don't want any confusion with prop weapons.

Yes! Well behaved pets on a leash are allowed in the Zombie Crawl. Please get in touch with the local Krewe of Barkus for more information!

Check out our Zombie 101 tutorials for basic zombie makeup and character guidelines. You can pick up Halloween makeup at our local Dollar General or the Wal-Mart in Berryville (about ten miles east of Eureka Springs).

We usually have local makeup artists in the Basin Park as well who you can pay to do professional zombie makeup the day of the event

We prohibit any acts of vandalism, littering, intimidation, harassment, trespassing on private property, public intoxication and/or drug use. And above all, the Zombie Crawl is considered a NO CONTACT event and all participants are prohibited from touching other people and/or their property.

ALSO, NO WEAPONS ARE ALLOWED.

Strict rules prohibiting profanity, violence, and lewd behavior are also in place, and we have strong on-site support from the Eureka Springs Police Department. These rules apply to all zombies, zombie hunters, volunteers, and any other event participants and spectators. Please play nice, and help us to make this a safe and fun event for everyone.

Yes! All zombie-themed vehicles are welcome to join the parade, including funeral hearses, ambulances, bug-out vehicles and "doomsday" cars, Mad Max-style junkyard creations, military and armored vehicles, and scary looking rat rods. Maybe you want to decorate the family minivan to look like a giant brain on wheels. Go for it! Drivers must be 18 or older with a valid driver's license and current insurance policy. Vehicles and floats must register and line-up at the Eureka Springs Community Center. We recommend arriving 1-2 hours before the parade starts.

Yes! We welcome all morbid minstrels and troubadours, post-mortem mimes and magicians, ghoulish flowergirls, balloon-twisting beasties, creepy clowns and contortionists, undead unicyclists, jinxed jugglers, skeleton skaters, bubble-blowing banshees, whistling wraiths, stilt-walking spectres, macabre mariachis, and hellacious hula girls! Eureka Springs has always been known as "the town where misfits fit", and this parade is for you!

Yes! Nothing quite says "parade" as much as a marching band, and nothing pays homage to Zombie Culture as much as... well... the dead. So break out the zombie makeup and detune those instruments for your most haunting rendition of Thriller or the Addams Family theme song. Feel free to march a little slower than usual. It's to be expected, with rigor mortis setting in and all.

Other Halloween-themed music groups are also invited to participate in the parade, including brass bands, stringed quartets, and tribal voodoo drummers.

Floats should display Halloween, Zombie, or Post-Apocalyptic themes. In the past, we've had floats that are truck, mule, ORV, flatbed and trailer-based, as well as decorated boats. From a design standpoint, your float can be as simple or complicated as you like. However, thinly disguised flat-bed trailers with a huge business sign advertisement with no theming aren't going to suffice.

Vehicles are welcome to include magnetic door signs advertising their car club or website. Businesses that build a parade float may advertise their business name, provided that the float is more than just a flatbed trailer with a billboard. We want to make sure the Zombie Crawl is a dazzling and family-friendly Zombie and Halloween themed parade, not a rolling display of billboards.

We may allow some music and/or sound effects to be played from vehicles or floats, provided that the music is appropriately themed and will not overpower adjacent marching bands or street musicians. We will do our best to accommodate those who want to play their own background music for their float or vehicle, but we cannot have every single vehicle playing loud music.

If you are staying somewhere downtown, ask your lodging about reserved off-street parking. Although hilly, much of downtown is walkable and in most cases it is easier to leave your car parked where you are staying, and then walk or ride the trolley to the Public Library, where the parade starts. If you are staying in a hotel or motel on HWY 62, we recommend leaving your vehicle there and taking the Eureka Springs Trolley into town. The Trolleys are our public transportation (buses), and an all-day pass is only $6.

If you are not staying overnight, you will need to arrive early if you want to park in town. If you wait until 4pm or 5pm to try and drive into town, you WILL NOT find parking. This event is HUGE and the parking lots downtown fill up by the early afternoon.

Zombies, marching bands, street performers, and other walking participants will assemble in front of the Public Library at 194 Spring Street with the horde of zombies. The Zombie Crawl Parade starts at 6pm.

All vehicles and floats will line up in the parking lot of the new Eureka Springs Community Center (old High School) at 44 Kingshighway, off HWY 62, across from the Inn of the Ozarks. Arrive by 4pm to enter your vehicle or float in the parade.

Book your lodging as soon as possible! Eureka Springs has an immense selection of different lodging choices, but they fill up fast for this event. There are several historic inns and hotels along the parade route, including the New Orleans Hotel, Palace Hotel, Basin Park Hotel, Peabody Historic Inn, Cliff Cottages, and All Seasons Inn. When booking, ask about off-street parking and special balcony viewing options for the Zombie Crawl. Cottages and B&B's near the Public Library (where the parade starts) are also a good choice. Whether or not you are staying downtown, ask your lodging where the nearest trolley stop is located.

TIP: If you're concerned about traffic and parking, using the public transit Trolley to get around town is easy and affordable. Trolley passes are only $6 for all day.

The Zombie Crawl attracts thousands of participants and spectators each year. An event of this magnitude requires extensive funding, planning and preparation, and we need all the help we can get! Send us a message through our website if you'd like to sponsor the Zombie Crawl or volunteer.