The Colonel and I celebrated the 28th year of our marriage (October 18th) this year. Normally we do not make a "big deal" about it.
Before The Colonel retired from the Air Force, there were some years that he was not home on our anniversary day, so we celebrated it whenever we could.
Our anniversary landed on a Saturday this year and on the same day as ZOMBICON 8.
ZOMBICON is the largest gathering in Florida, of zombiephiles. Fort Myers city officials call it "a bona fide phenomenon". In its sixth year, around 20,000 people attended (23,000 attended this year). It has been said that you don't just come to the event, you
are the event.
ZOMBICON is a zombie-themed, music and art festival that began in 2007. Why a zombie theme? George A. Romero filmed the opening scene of his 1985 movie,
Day of the Dead, in Fort Myers. You can see the Edison Theater behind the zombie.
Of course The Colonel and I wanted to see what this"bona fide phenomenon" was all about, so we made plans to attend ZOMBICON 8: Voodoo Nightmare.
The gates did not open until 4:00 p.m. The Colonel and I arrived in Ft. Myers about an hour early because we wanted to make sure we could get a good parking spot (we did). To eat up (no pun intended) some time, we walked around the river front as well as visit the lovely library.
The promoters of ZOMBICON 8 were asking for a non-perishable food item to be donated as you went into the gate as well as paying a nominal entrance fee. We approached a table at one of the gates, handed the woman our canned food items and were prepared to pay the fee, but the woman never asked us for it so we entered the gate with our wallets non the thinner.
The Colonel and I walked around the festival, along the streets of Ft. Myers' historic River District. It was a section of Ft. Myers we had never been to before. The buildings were beautiful and there were interesting shops and restaurants inside them. We want to go back there one day, sans zombies.
This is my photograph of the Edison Theater. I love its Art Deco look.
The streets were beginning to fill up with crowds of zombies and non-zombies. The Colonel and I did not dress up for ZOMBICON 8.
We were on a street corner zombie-watching, when a young father came from behind us, and he had his little girl dressed as a zombie. She was so cute, if a zombie can be cute. The little girl's father told her to do her "zombie arms" for us as I snapped a couple of pictures.
Here is a happy zombie baby and some little zombie brothers.
The Voodoo Nightmare theme for ZOMBICON 8 inspired some very good costumes.
We saw all kinds of zombies.....
We even saw "Rick" from The Walking Dead.
As the day wore on, more zombies and non-zombies filled the streets and the bands continued playing their music.
The Colonel and I were getting hungry and despite all the "blood and gore" we witnessed, we got a delicious, coal-fired slice of pizza from Capone's before the zombie walk started. Anyone dressed as a zombie could be included in the zombie walk.
We did not leave ZOMBICON 8 until dark, around 8:00 p.m. It was still going on strong when we left. It reminded us of Key West's Fantasy Fest, but without the nudity. We being an "old married couple" had to call it a night.
We are looking forward to ZOMBICON 9 and next time were going as zombies.
