Zombie Walk is about more than monster merrymaking
When I realized it was time again for Russellville Public Library’s annual Zombie Walk, I couldn’t help but smile.
Zombies aren’t for everyone, and they’re certainly not for me. Whether it’s the slow, moaning-and-groaning zombies drawn to RPL each October or the fast-moving zombies of more current pop culture – check out clips of “28 Days Later” or “World War Z” if you don’t know what I’m talking about – it’s all a little too unnerving for me.
But RPL’s Zombie Walk is all in good fun, and there’s a different aspect of the fright fest that really appeals to me: the effort to bring more people to the library.
Libraries are sometimes underappreciated assets in the communities they serve, but for booklovers everywhere, they are magical places where adventures are waiting to happen. For the less romantic, more prosaic among us, still they are hallowed halls where almost unending banks of resources are available – and all at no cost to patrons.
Whether you’re in search of Internet files, audiobooks, DVDs or hardcopy volumes, your local library has you covered. If you want to learn something new or simply get lost in the kind of story that will make you look up hours later and wonder where the time went – the library is the place to go.
I love that Russellville Public Library has taken the opportunity to capitalize on a fun cultural phenomenon – the continued zombie craze – and use it an opportunity to cultivate positive PR. Everyone business, even a nonprofit, service-based business like a library, needs a hook, a way to draw people in. Sometimes it takes more than simply saying, here’s who we are and what we offer. Sometimes it takes a zombie walk.
The walk is, to me, a genius way to draw both new library patrons as well as those who haven’t popped by in a while. Throw open the doors, set out a few snack and activities and welcome people to see what the library is all about.
Kudos go to library director Ashley Cummins for dreaming up an event that has continued to draw attention from far and wide for five years now. She and her staff have worked hard to line up sponsors to keep the event free – just like all library resources and events – and I know it can’t be easy working out the details each year. But heading a library isn’t something you do because it’s easy. Passion drives local libraries, including RPL.
Just writing this has me itching to head to the library and check out something new to read, something to “feed my brain” – which just so happens to also be the fitting tagline for the Zombie Walk.
Whether you’re in it for the convincing zombie make-up or the gobs of free resources, plan a trip the library Oct. 21, or sooner. Why wait?
Maybe I’ll see you there.
