BRAAAIIIINNSSSS! (And for all you vegetarians, GRAAAIIINNSSS!) This spooky season will bring the reanimation of Eau Claire's Zombie Crawl, last seen creepin' around the area pre-pandemic.

According to the totally accurate webpages of Wikipedia, the “zombie crawl” phenomenon has been going on since at least 2000. In Eau Claire, the official annual Zombie Crawl event kicked off in 2011 (check out this photoset we shot in 2012) before dying off around 2017.

This year, the undead are gearing up for a gnarly return to the streets of downtown Eau Claire. The revived Zombie Crawl event will kick off at 6pm on Saturday, Oct. 25.

Downtown Eau Claire Zombie Crawl 2025 participating businesses:

• The Brewing Projekt (1807 N. Oxford Ave.)
• The Fire House (202 Gibson St.)
• Dive (333 Better Way)
• The Reboot Social (220 S. Barstow St.)
• Olson’s Ice Cream (80 S. Barstow St.)
• The Mousetrap Tavern (311 S. Barstow St.)
• The Plus (208 S. Barstow St.)
• The Wigwam Tavern (314 E. Madison St.)
• Clancy’s (414 S. Barstow St.)

The reason for its rise from the grave? Simply for the fun of it all.

“I wanted to bring back a classic while ‘reviving’ it,” Carolyn Wardell, event coordinator at The Brewing Projekt, said. “This may be a crawl but ‘crawlers’ don’t have to make it a drinking crawl.”

This year, a couple local joints will be offering non-boozy treats for zombified patrons, including Olson's Ice Cream and Reboot Social. 

Folks are invited to dress up in their gory, ghoulish best for the downtown crawl, which will give out a Best Zombie Costume award at 10:30pm over at The Brewing Projekt. Beyond that, participants can win additional prizes like gift cards and local biz swag by filling up the event's Zombie Crawl stamp card with at least five stamps (simply make a purchase at any of the above businesses to get a stamp).

“Don’t worry about how you’ll crawl your Zombie a$$ around town,” the Zombie Crawl event posting reads. “Unlimited rides are available between participating businesses throughout the event courtesy of Cody Limousine for a one-time $7 fee.”

It’s almost time to get your zombie on. Are you down?

The 2025 Downtown Eau Claire Zombie Crawl will occur Saturday, Oct. 25, from about 6-10:30pm. Check out the Facebook event posting for more deets.