What is the Zombie Bike Ride?

By Aaron Wedra, Zombie Bike Ride Chair, DDBA Board Member

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Davis has fast become home of the West Coast's Zombie Bike Ride Halloweekend Festival. The Zombie Bike Ride (ZBR) has grown from a 250 person bike parade in 2019, to a 3,500 person festival in 2022. Our premier event is the Zombie Bike Ride, which takes place along the 12 mi. Davis Bike Loop. The ride is held on the Sunday before Halloween. The bike ride is traditionally followed by a downtown afterparty, and in 2022, the Davis Odd Fellows Lodge hosted a sold out ZBR night time comedy show with celebrity comedian, Brent Pella. Each year we also support several smaller events, such as Zombie Paintball and our Pre-Bike Brew Party at Sudwerks, on the Saturday prior.

No two years have been exactly alike. We continuously bring new partners to the table and provide brand new Halloweekend experiences for attendees! 

The ZBR boasts 15 entertainment stations, several zombie bike mechanics, food and drink vendors, opportunities for prizes for best costumes, and so much more. Entertainment stations range from interactive opportunities—such as engaging with local Davis groups like the robotics team (Citrus Circuits) and the Davis Fencing Academy—to encountering epic spectacles—such as zombies on stilts, an entire Halloween marching band, a Michael Jackson's Thriller performance, and a party on UC Davis Campus with DJ Mellax just to name a few! It has been a delight to see parks across the city fill up during our event. 

The Davis Odd Fellows and the Bike Campaign are the ZBR hosts. The event beneficiary each year is Norcal Trykers who create custom tricycles for children with disabilities. We are a triumvirate of non-profits who come together each year to put on a monstrously large and successful family friendly community event, where we turn Davis into a Halloween theme park. In four years, with the help of community sponsors, we have raised $21,400 for Norcal Trykers and they have been able to create 23 adaptive tricycles for children with disabilities. These children get to experience the freedom of riding on a bicycle and feeling the wind in their hair for the first time.

With the help of our generous sponsors, we have been able to raise money for our beneficiary, Norcal Trykers, while keeping our main event entirely FREE 😎 to the public!

Although we emphasize bicycling, it is not required. Scooters, skateboards, strollers, and other modes of transportation are allowed. For those who find it difficult to traverse bike lanes and green belts, we suggest driving to Community Park, where the majority of the day's festivities take place. Community Park has food and drink vendors, entertainment, and the Skydance Skydiving grand finale at 3:30pm. The Zombie Bike Ride should is treated as a community-wide amusement park. Participants can map out their custom routes, and feel free to drive or walk. 

We invite visitors to come into town as early as Friday to experience all that Davis has to offer: art, culture, a vibrant night life, and wonderful lodging. We suggest they book a room in one of our 12 motels/hotels and provide links and a map for available lodging. We suggest a visit to the UC Davis Arboretum & Public Garden, and a stroll of our downtown. We encourage buying or renting a bike and offer info on local bike shops.

Our unique marketing reaches hundreds of thousands (we have detailed records). In 2022 alone we had 139 sponsors/collaborators/media partners. See full list at http://www.zombiebikeparade.com on our home page. Our partnerships and support from sponsors created massive synergy. The ZBR is certainly one of the top events in our town's history in terms of buy-in from all of the pillars in the community, small business support, and creative partnerships with local institutions. The vast majority of our event spending supports local businesses, organizations and media outlets. 

Note on our Zombie Bike Ride downtown afterparty

We realized that at the end of our bike ride with thousands gathering at Community Park for the skydiving grand finale, that we had a captive audience. In 2021 we decided to begin the tradition of holding an afterparty in downtown Davis, so that our captive audience would provide an economic boon to our core area. ZBR is truly about community building and supporting local.