Downtown Silver Spring’s undead will finally get to walk again. On Saturday, October 24, the Silver Spring Zombie Walk returns, drawing community members, Halloween lovers, and costume enthusiasts for a night of spooky fun starting at 7 p.m.
The night kicks off with a zombie gathering at 7 p.m. at the Quarry House Tavern on Georgia Avenue, according to DC News Now. A costume contest follows at 8 p.m., and at 9 p.m. the crowd sets off on the walk to Ellsworth Square.
The Walk Returns This Year
In 2024, organizers had to improvise. The event became a Zombie Gathering & DJ Dance Party centered at Ellsworth Plaza, a change attributed to construction, as Downtown Silver Spring described. This year brings a moving walk through downtown.
Once the walkers arrive at Ellsworth Square, a zombie dance party with a DJ starts at 9 p.m., per DC News Now. The horde then shuffles onward at 10 p.m. toward its final destination: the AFI Silver Theatre.
From Blog Debate to Regional Tradition
The Zombie Walk didn’t start as anything official. It began in 2008 when local bloggers Eric Robbins and Karl Ericson sparked an online debate over where downtown Silver Spring residents would go to survive a hypothetical zombie apocalypse, according to Source of the Spring. That first gathering drew participants to the Quarry House Tavern before a walk to a horror film screening at AFI Silver Theatre — a template the event still follows today.
The idea caught on fast. From roughly 150 costumed walkers in 2008, turnout jumped to 700 the following year and ballooned to 2,000 by 2010, per Source of the Spring. As the crowds grew too large for a casual meetup, event management eventually passed to broader local community promoters. The walk has since become a true Halloween institution, drawing hundreds of community members and visitors each year, as DC News Now reports.
The Dive Bar That Survived Fire and Flood
The Quarry House Tavern’s role as the walk’s starting point carries its own survival story. The basement bar was forced to operate across the street for nearly three years after a 2015 fire upstairs and a 2016 water main break left it under four feet of standing water, according to the Washington Post. It reopened after restoration in March 2018.
A Horror Host With Decades of History
The parade’s final stop, AFI Silver Theatre, hosts its own slice of local television history Saturday night. Count Gore De Vol — portrayed by Dick Dyszel, Washington, D.C.’s longest-running television horror host on WDCA from 1973 to 1987 — presents a 7 p.m. screening of The Evil Dead, according to AFI Silver Theatre. Dyszel went on to host a weekly internet show in 1998 and began live-hosted AFI screenings in 2013.
The theater’s lineup continues through the evening with Train to Busan at 10 p.m. and The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadowcast at 10:30 p.m., per DC News Now.
The theater itself carries architectural weight in downtown Silver Spring. The Art Deco Silver Theatre building, originally opened in 1938, reopened in April 2003 following a multi-million-dollar historic restoration that marked a milestone in the area’s early-2000s revitalization, according to a Silver Spring Speaks history.
Backed by a State Arts District
Downtown Silver Spring’s capacity to host an event like this isn’t accidental. The area has held a State of Maryland Arts & Entertainment District designation since 2001, which provides tax incentives and financial support for local cultural venues and programming, per Source of the Spring.
More Halloween Happenings Around the County
The same Saturday, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation is rolling out its Halloween-decorated Monster Flash transit bus for free family events and story hours at the Twinbrook and Germantown library branches, according to the county department’s own announcement.
Nearby Takoma Park holds its own Halloween tradition the following weekend. The city’s annual Monster Bash takes place October 31, featuring a trunk-or-treat, a magic show, and a costumed parade down Piney Branch Road and Philadelphia Avenue to the Takoma Park Community Center.
