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Marietta’s Zombie Fest expands thrills

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Miller Marietta resident Megan Miller, 36, with husband Jeremy Miller, 36, and daughter Rylee Miller, 11, dressed at zombies for the Zombie Walk in Parkersburg on Oct. 15 and plan to attend the Zombie Fest in Marietta this Saturday.

MARIETTA — Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a zombie? Now is your chance as the Marietta Zombie Fest will be filling the streets Friday of the historic Harmar Village.

“With or without costumes, we would love to have people come hang out,” said Courtney Knoch, organizer for the fest.

Zombie Fest is a family-friendly event meant to bring people together in Harmar Village to have fun and celebrate Halloween with zombies and entertainment.

Previously called the Harmar Zombie Walk, Zombie Fest is the same event under new management. This year’s event will be concentrated on horror rather than only zombies. Zombies are still the main part of Zombie Fest.

There will be a few vendors, including Semi Charmed Productions, Hawthorn Tarot Card Reading, Hidden Marietta, Second to None Graphics, Silver Linings, Marietta College, Asylum Comics and Undo’s on Pike Street. There will even be prizes for those competing in the costume contest, not only for children, but for adults well.

The categories for the costume contest include a children’s category, a single’s category and a couple’s category. High Schools that Rock will be attending to play Halloween-themed music starting at 6 p.m.

“We are really looking forward to playing again this year,” said Mark Doebrich, director of High Schools that Rock. “Most of my students are in high school so this gives them a fun opportunity to dress up and kick off the Halloween weekend while it’s cool.”

Followed by High Schools that Rock, P.A.C.E. Performing Arts Center will be performing a spooky Addams Family themed dance.

“This is an amazing experience for our dancers to perform for our community,” said P.A.C.E. dance instructor Jessica Malow. “We are really excited to attend and perform again this year.”

The main event for the night will be a showing of “Night of the Living Dead,” an iconic zombie movie, at 8 p.m. in a drive-in movie theater fashion.

“We are excited to bring more family-centered events downtown,” said Knoch. “We would love for kids to want to get out and enjoy Harmar Village and downtown Marietta.”

Nathanial Maciag, of Second to None Graphics assisted Knoch in organizing this event.

“In the past this has been a very community driven event,” said Maciag. “We want an event that doesn’t just cater to Marietta but all across the Mid-Ohio Valley including Parkersburg and surrounding areas.”

This is the first time that Knoch has managed the event, as last year’s event was managed by Paskawych Entertainment.

“We want to bring together people who have common interests in horror and zombies,” said Maciag.

Marietta resident Jeremy Miller, 36, said he and his family attend every year.

“My family and I were a little bummed about last year’s weather turnout,” said Jeremy. “This year, we are excited to meet up with different people who enjoy doing zombie makeup and share ideas with one another.”

Miller said he and his family have attended almost every year since the Zombie Walk originated in Harmar Village. In previous years, his daughter Rylee has won the children’s category for the costume contest. He and his wife, Megan, have also taken home first place in the couple’s category.

The Miller family spends hours doing their makeup as zombies saying it usually takes between two and three hours just to complete one look. As for costumes, they said any ripped and dirty clothing works to complete the look.

“We try to start as early as possible before any event we go to,” said Jeremy.

The makeup Jeremy uses is liquid latex and toilet paper. Each layer needs time to dry before another is applied to make the makeup look more realistic.

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