Encouraging community members to dress up as zombies for the Halloween season, Downtown Bryan restaurants, bars and other businesses are hosting the sixth annual Zombie Pub Crawl on Saturday.
A $5 wristband will give attendees access to special deals and events at all of the participating businesses, as well as the zombification station face painting booth located outside of The Village and Downtown Uncorked Wine Bar. Additionally, attendees who purchase a ticket can get $5 off their entry to the Fright Nights haunted house at The Palace Theater.
Kristy Petty, owner of The Village, said this event is a way for downtown businesses to be involved in local Halloween festivities.
“It started pretty much six years ago as a collaboration between the bars and the restaurants as a way to celebrate Halloween without going against the actual day of Halloween,” Petty said.
According to Petty, the pub crawl is not only a way to celebrate the Halloween season, but also a chance for people to learn more about the restaurants and bars of Downtown Bryan.
“When you do pub crawls, it just encourages everybody and makes them realize how many places there are to go in one setting down here, which I think is always helpful,” Petty said.
Melba Tucker, owner and manager of Downtown Uncorked Wine Bar, will help host the zombification station. Downtown Uncorked and the other participating bars will be offering $4 specials to those who purchase the pub crawl wristband.
“With our special, if you do come in and purchase it, you will also get a balloon,” Tulker said. “When you pop the balloon, inside is a piece of paper and you have an option of winning a free pizza, a free drink, 20 percent off your bill, et cetera, et cetera.”
Jai Girard, general manager of Halo and doctoral candidate in recreation, park and tourism sciences at Texas A&M, said this will be the second October they will be open and participating since the bar recovered from a fire. Halo will be participating in the Pub Crawl by hosting an event called “Scream Queens” to benefit Long Way Home Animal Rescue.
“We do closet giveaways and costume contests for people and for dogs, and then we have drag queens that perform and help put on the event,” Girard said. “What we’ll do is move everybody downstairs and then all the zombie pub crawlers will be able to come in, so we have drink specials for them and we let them come in without a cover charge.”
Another major component of the event is the costume contest. The overall winners will be crowned at midnight at the Grand Stafford Theater. Brooke Conrad, Class of 2012, has participated in the pub crawl with her husband since 2013, and said their costumes have become increasingly elaborate over the years.
“We heard about it from a friend the first time and it was really last minute and we just pulled random costumes together and didn’t make a big deal out of it,” Conrad said. “Then we got there and our friends were like totally decked out. They were zombie bride and groom and I think they actually wound up winning. Ever since then, we’ve gotten more and more into it.”
More information on the Downtown Bryan Zombie Pub Crawl is available at tx.ag/ZombiePubCrawl.