The undead were alive and around the library on Friday, September 16.
The Sylvan Lake Municipal Library held their annual Zombie Walk, which pitted over 30 participants against each other – with half joining the zombie horde and the other half joining the Zombie Annihilation Squad.
The Annihilation Squad prepared their ambush on the way to the lake’s shore. The zombie horde was released from the library and proceeded towards the lake. The final battle commenced on the lake, where many onlookers joined into the fray. The zombies looked to turn the squad by stealing a ribbon on their arm, while the squad looked to end the zombie’s days by taking them out with their Nerf guns.
Corrie Brown, programmer for the library, was pleased with this year’s action and was happy to see it grow from the first year – which only had 12 participants
“The first year we did it, we had about 12 people come and it was something I really wanted to do,” she said. “I wasn’t a programmer at that point - it was my first year working here and it just seemed like a fun thing to do. We designed a whole month around it where we showed zombie movies in the library and we put together a haunted house.”
“We have since built on it year-to-year,” she added.
The event is a free event in order to show the community that library is more then just “a quiet place to read a book,” according to Brown.
“It is one of our events that is very open to all ages and everyone can participate in some way,” she said, adding that the Zombie walk “boosts our collection because we bring in a lot of books and movies that are zombie related.”
Providing free program is one of the mandates of the library and is especially important considering the current economy, according to Brown.
“We want people to come and take advantage of what we have,” she said. “A lot of places don’t offer that for free. If it’s a library program: it’s free. Whether we do fundraising for that or it’s in our regular budget - we make it work.”
The Zombie Walk will happen again next year and the library is looking to work with the Community Centre to not only change the venue, but also have it coincide with a Blood Drive.
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com