Questions from the living

The Zombie Bike Parade Festival is Saturday, October 31, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Community Park, 1405 F Street, Davis, CA 95616. Admission is FREE, all ages are welcome, and riding a bike is optional. The festival benefits NorCal Trykers.

The parade runs from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; arrive by 10:30 a.m. The route is just under five miles, from Community Park to Mace Ranch Park and back. The skydiving finale is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Community Park, weather permitting. See the current festival guide for the full day.

The skydiving finale is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at Community Park in Davis. It is at Community Park, not Mace Ranch Park. Skydiving depends on weather and may change or be canceled; check this website and our social channels for updates.

No. Hot-air balloon rides are not part of the 2026 festival program. Balloon photographs and stories from previous years describe past festivals. Use the 2026 festival guide to plan this year’s visit.

Everyone is welcome at Community Park for the festival: on foot, on any wheels, in a wheelchair or powerchair, or pushing a stroller. The official bike parade is different. It rides just under five miles at a regular biking pace, so it is for bicycles (including e-bikes, cargo bikes, tandems and bike trailers) and only for riders who can keep that pace for the whole route. Helmets are required under 18 and strongly encouraged for everyone. If the parade is not the right fit, stay at Community Park: the shows, the entertainment stations and the 2:30 p.m. skydiving finale all happen there.

El Zombie Bike Parade Festival es el sábado 31 de octubre de 2026, de 11 a. m. a 3 p. m., en Community Park, 1405 F Street, Davis. La entrada es GRATIS y todas las edades son bienvenidas. El festival beneficia a NorCal Trykers.

¡Sí! Pueden disfrutar de las actividades y espectáculos de Community Park sin participar en el desfile en bicicleta. El espectáculo final de paracaidismo está programado para las 2:30 p. m. en Community Park, si el tiempo lo permite.

Yes. There are no admission fees for the parade or the Community Park festival. It has been a FREE community event every year since 2019, the only exception being that very first year, which had a one-time $5 registration fee (that honestly was not even monitored 😂). The festival stays FREE thanks to sponsors, whose money is what keeps this a completely open, family-friendly event. See who makes that possible.

Helmets are strongly encouraged for everyone and legally required for riders under 18. Beyond that, follow the same city and state bike laws you would on any other day: one person per bike seat, no riding on pegs or handlebars, and children under 10 must be supervised.

Everyone is welcome at Community Park for the festival: on foot, on any wheels, in a wheelchair or powerchair, or pushing a stroller. The official bike parade is different. It rides just under five miles at a regular biking pace, so it is for bicycles (including e-bikes, cargo bikes, tandems and bike trailers) and only for riders who can keep that pace for the whole route. Helmets are required under 18 and strongly encouraged for everyone. If the parade is not the right fit, stay at Community Park: the shows, the entertainment stations and the 2:30 p.m. skydiving finale all happen there.

Community Park, for the festival and the parade. Bike parking is plentiful and FREE. Car parking fills fast: use the lot at the Davis Senior Center and expect to walk a block or two. Community Park is on F Street between Covell and 14th.

Downtown, for the Trick-or-Treat Trail from 3pm. Davis Downtown keeps the full guide to downtown car parks, street parking and the FREE two-hour lots: davisdowntown.com parking guide. Better still, leave the car at Community Park and ride or walk in, which is under a mile.

The Bike Campaign and The Bike Garage are the first place to go: they host this event, they do repairs, and their Bike Garage locations (606 Peña Drive in Davis, First and Hays in Woodland) sell good quality used bikes.

SPIN is the easiest option if you are coming into town for the day. Download the SPIN app, unlock a bike or scooter and ride. There are SPIN bikes at Community Park on the day.

Davis bike shops, worth calling ahead on Halloweekend:

• Davis Cyclery, 247 F Street, Davis. (530) 746-2380
• Green Bicycle Depot, 965 Olive Drive, Davis. (530) 759-0828

Bike trailers built for carrying dogs, children and other passengers are explicitly allowed on the ride. As with any large public event, keep pets leashed and be mindful of crowds, loud music and the skydiving finale, which can be startling for some animals.

The festival and the parade go ahead in light wind and light rain. Costumes and a bit of drizzle have never stopped this town.

Some parts depend on conditions: the skydiving finale needs clear enough skies and low enough wind, and can be called off on the day.

In the days before the festival, check this website and our social media. That is where we post any change, including the unlikely case of moving the date because of weather or anything else outside our control.

No Friday night party is happening in 2026. The Zombie Halloween Party at Sudwerk Brewing is not running this year.

Saturday’s festival and parade at Community Park is FREE and all ages, same as every year, and that part is certain regardless.

Sponsorship money raised by the festival goes to NorCal Trykers, a nonprofit that builds custom adaptive tricycles for children with disabilities at no cost to their families. In good years, the festival has also shared smaller amounts with other local causes and partners, including The Bike Campaign, Thriving Pink, Friends of Watermelon Music and Toys for Tots. Since 2019, organizers estimate the festival has raised somewhere close to $50,000 for NorCal Trykers and funded 42 adaptive tricycles, though the exact audited total has not been published. Read the full breakdown in why we ride.

Sign up on the volunteer page. Pick a shift that suits you, tell us who you are, and we will be in touch.

Or come to a committee meeting. The Zombie Bike Parade Committee meets at 4pm on Fridays in the lower hall at the Odd Fellows Lodge, 415 2nd Street in downtown Davis, and anyone is welcome. The dates for this year are on the volunteer page

The jobs are far too varied to list here, and that is the honest answer rather than a shrug: the festival needs everything from marshalling a junction to carrying tables to face painting to counting cash. Tell us what you are good at, or what you fancy trying, and we will find the right spot.

Sponsors keep this festival FREE. Tiers, benefits and the packet are on the sponsorship page, and it pays for custom trikes for children who have never been able to ride one.

Booths and entertainment stations are on the booths page. If you will bring FREE entertainment that people can join in with, we will seriously consider giving you a 10x10 space at no cost.

Not sure which you are? Apply on the booths page and describe what you have in mind. We read every one.

Festival photography is typically handled by SpotMyPhotos and Action Flipbooks, along with volunteer photographers, and guest galleries in recent years have been delivered by text message registration on site. If you would like a copy of a photo you appeared in, or would like a specific photo removed from the site or gallery, use the festival's contact page to reach the team directly with the photo's location or description.

Any costume at all is welcome, zombie or not. Plenty of people come as something entirely unrelated to the undead and nobody minds.

What we ask is that you keep it family friendly where you can. This is a FREE, all-ages festival with a great many small children at it, and we have deliberately moved the whole event away from blood and gore towards the brighter, funnier, pop-art end of Halloween. Green face paint, silly hats, an entire family dressed as a bike chain: that is the spirit of it.

If you are riding, see the note about loose fabric and bike wheels below.

It can, so the festival specifically asks riders to be mindful that capes, chains, tattered fabric and other costume pieces do not get caught on pedals, chains or spokes while pedaling. Test your costume on your bike before the day if you are wearing anything loose or trailing.

Yes. Community Park is mostly flat, with a few small rises, and everything that makes the day, the stations, the food, the costume contest, the music and the skydiving finale, happens there. You can drive straight to it and never touch the bike route.

Wheelchairs, powerchairs, prams and anything else you move around on are welcome across the whole festival. The parade is the one exception, and only because it rolls at a normal bicycling pace for five miles: it is for bicycles and anything that genuinely keeps up with one. Nothing else about the day asks that of you.

The parade route is mostly flat too, with a couple of gentle hills. Accessible toilets and water are at Community Park, and if you need anything on the day, Zombie Headquarters is where the volunteers are.

There is no check in, and nothing to sign. Just turn up.

Zombie Headquarters is set up at Community Park, and is the place to pick up a Zombie Kingdom Quest sheet, ask logistics questions, or find a member of the Zombie HQ team. We strive to have Spanish and Mandarin speaking volunteers on hand there too.

Community Park, absolutely, and everything happens there. The official parade itself is a five-mile bike ride at a regular biking pace, so it is only for bicycles and riders who can hold that pace the whole way. Cheer the roll-out at 11 a.m., enjoy the park, and be front row for the 2:30 p.m. skydiving finale.