Before there was a Ball, there was a Mash. In 2021, organizers realized that when a few thousand people gather at Community Park to watch the Skydance finale, they leave the park all at once, and that is what the festival's own engagement pages call "a captive audience." Rather than let that crowd scatter, the Downtown Davis Business Association threw the first Zombie Mash right at Davis Commons, 500 1st St, 3:30 to 5:30 pm, with DJ Duc Jones, free Davis Food Co-op hot cider and free bike registration through The Bike Campaign.
From plaza mash to red carpet
The Mash moved around for a few years: E Street Plaza in 2022 (DJ Duc Jones again, plus Fire University fire dancers and the Sacramento Zombie Club), back downtown in 2023 with Stunt Masters BMX added to the mix, Steve's Pizza in 2024, and Woodstock's Pizza from 2025 on, where anyone in costume gets a free soft drink and a Greg the Zombie plushy raffle keeps things interesting. Note for the record: the 2022 E Street Plaza gathering was a Zombie Mash afterparty, not yet a "Zombie Ball." The Ball proper did not exist until 2024.
The 1st Davis Zombie Ball happened Saturday, October 26, 2024, at the Odd Fellows Lodge, 7 to 9:30 pm with doors at 6:30, 18 and up, $13 early bird or $25 at the door. DJ Duc Jones spun, there was a costume showcase, a medium and spirit guide, a tarot reader and free face painting. Bohème Hip Used Clothing sponsored, and a percentage of proceeds went to Thriving Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It sold out. "We had to turn people away at the door," organizers wrote afterward, and the night raised $600 for Thriving Pink.
"Zombies, Aliens, Witches, and Creatures that crawled right out of the shadows. We had it all." (2025 Zombie Ball recap)
Round two, bigger red carpet
The 2nd Zombie Ball ran Saturday, October 25, 2025, at the Lodge, 6:30 to 9:30 pm, with music from Davis Rave Co. (Caden Velasquez, plus DJ Prime and Isaac B2B Aaron Helali), a Red Carpet Costume Showcase with free professional photography from Rickie of Stimulate Photography, a circus juggler named Raul Chavez, a free makeup artist, zombie stickers and glow shirts. Bohème Clothing & Gifts sponsored again, with proceeds again going to Thriving Pink during what the festival calls Pinktober.
2026: a new venue, same mission
For 2026, the night rebrands slightly as "Davis' Zombie Halloween Party," moving to Friday, October 30, times to be confirmed, at Sudwerk Brewing, 2001 2nd Street. Sudwerk hosts, Bohème sponsors again, it remains adults only, with the age limit still to be confirmed, tickets run $13 early bird or $25 at the door, available in September, and a percentage again benefits Thriving Pink. Tickets have run through posh.vip in recent years (search "davis-zombie-ball" on the platform).
The Ball has its own dedicated hosts on the festival's team page: Yelena Ivashchencko and Brett Maresca, with DJ Duc Jones as the standing Zombie Ball DJ and Gayle Barry of Thriving Pink on the marketing committee. Check current ticket details before assuming last year's price or venue carries over, since this event has moved more than almost anything else on the calendar. See the current details on the Zombie Ball event page.
Why an 18-plus night, and why Thriving Pink
The daytime festival is deliberately built for every age, strollers and all, which is exactly why the Ball exists as its own separate ticketed event. It gives the festival an adults-only night where the costumes can get sharper, the music can run later, and a downtown business like Bohème or Sudwerk gets to host something that feels like a proper Halloween party rather than a family picnic. The Thriving Pink partnership gives the night a second purpose beyond the party itself: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and by anchoring the Ball's proceeds to Thriving Pink every year, organizers have turned one night of DJ sets and tarot readings into a small, recurring act of local fundraising that runs parallel to the NorCal Trykers money raised the next day.
The venues themselves have quietly become part of the story too. Bohème has sponsored every Ball since the very first one in 2024, supplying costumes, props and its own storefront's worth of goodwill. The Odd Fellows Lodge hosted the first two years before the 2026 move to Sudwerk Brewing, a shift that says less about the Lodge and more about a festival that keeps outgrowing whatever room it started in.
If dressing up and dancing for a cause sounds like your kind of Friday night, watch for the ticket link closer to the date, and consider that Bohème and Sudwerk both said yes to hosting a party that exists to fund breast cancer awareness work. That is worth a costume upgrade.
