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Owen Yancher Photography

DAVIS BIKE CLUB ENGAGEMENT

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! We are pushing to eventually have a 2.5 day festival.

 

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. 

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How Does the Zombie Bike Ride
Benefit the Community?

By Maria Contreras Tebbutt,
Founder of The Bike Campaign

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For over 50 years Davis has been a leader in the nation, by being the first city to install bike lanes. As of 2016 Davis was referred to as the “Bike Capitol”, but as of 2019 Sparta Wisconsin Sparta is now most recognized as the “Bicycling Capital of America,” based on the fact that Over 60,000 visitors enjoy the Elroy-Sparta and La Crosse River State Bike Trails. Portland, Seattle get their share of money spending bike riders too

 

What happened?

 

Five years ago most UCD students and newcomers were unable to find the Davis Bike Loop on their own.

 

For the past 11 years The Bike Campaign has been encouraging community bike rides to make it easy for more people to enjoy the Davis Bike Loop.

 

Over 3000 bike riders enjoyed the Zombie Bike Ride and thousands more learned about Davis’ friendly, safe and wholesome bike culture. Thousands of riders come out for the Polar Bear Ride, Loopalooza and the Ice Cream Ride – many from outside Davis city limits - and they keep on coming back and bring their wallets with them.

 

Covid has caused health and well being to be at the top of peoples’ minds and the continued escalating cost of driving has them looking for alternatives. Sky travel is fraught with stress and cancelations and more and more people are opting for the staycation close to home.

 

Davis’ accessibility by train and easy bike riding make us another great travel destination.

 

We would like to see the City of Davis once again enthusiastically claim our right to bike fame. Join us in making Davis a leader in the nation again and a beacon for other communities who look to us as a great place to live.

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Visitors spend money here, marketing Davis by partnering in our Bike Friendly events is valuable because it sells people on moving here and a home purchase and everything else that they buy is the biggest revenue generator for the City.  

 

FACT:  People who ride bikes spend more money in their community. (because they’re less likely do drive elsewhere and have more expendable income). 

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One family's testimonial says it all:

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"On Sunday, October 30th, 2022, my wife, both daughters and I celebrated our first weekend as Davis residents by participating in The Bike Campaign sponsored Zombie Ride.

 

After enjoying some live music by the Noise Violation band, trying out some of Peter’s eclectic trikes and bikes, and being chased by 7 foot tall Zombies (one of which had my 4 year-old giggling after she pointed at me and stating, “Oh, look… Boyfriend!”) we stopped downtown for lunch. At one point during lunch my wife locked eye with me and expressed, “We’ve chosen the best place in the world to raise our children!” I smiled and nodded in agreement.

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Later, we hopped back on our bikes headed towards our final destination of Community Park where we bumped into a few neighbors. As the flying zombies parachuted into the field and we clapped in awe of what we had just witnessed I couldn’t help but acknowledge that my family, and I felt welcomed and honored to be a part of a community that makes walking and biking safely a top priority and harness that power in community events!"

 

—Austin Oney

What is Our Request for Davis Bike Club?

By Aaron Wedra

 

Amount Requested: $250 – $500

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AND MORE IMPORTANTLY:

  • Being present the day of the event (Sunday, October 29th)

    • Have a booth promoting DBC​

    • Have a large DBC bicycling team (with a unique Halloween theme as zombies) 

      • Ride the Bike loop at a fast pace, waving at as many event-goers as possible​

      • Have fun mobile music, fun props, songs to sing together or chants to inspire event-goers

  • Have a separate event at the US Bicycling Hall of Fame or elsewhere on Saturday as a part of our lineup of events

    • We would promote your special event to tens of thousands as a part of our Halloweekend Festival​

    • We could provide professional zombies and bring the Davis mascot 

  • Market our event to your email list, your social media reach. We can cross promote one of your events in our off season

  • Share your ideas and expertise, send a liaison to our monthly committee meetings​​

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