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History of the ZPC

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  The First Zombie Pub Crawl (2005)

  150 people gathered in Northeast Minneapolis and went to six bars, starting at the 331 Club and ending at Psycho Suzi’s, who didn’t know they were coming. We didn’t have a website. We might have had a MySpace page though.
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  ZPC 2: 329 Days Later (2006)

  500 zombies gathered again in Northeast and went to a few more bars. A rival Pirate Pub Crawl was started, but quickly retreated when faced with the reality of a zombie horde getting blood all over their fancy pirate shirts.
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  ZPC 3: Bride of the Zombie Pub Crawl (2007)

  Having outgrown Northeast, we moved to the West Bank neighborhood, starting at Gold Medal Park and ending with a big party at the Nomad. About 1,000 people showed up.
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  ZPC 4: Spawn of Death (2008)

  I’m not sure where that name came from. We almost called it “ZPC 4: Out the Door,” and “ZPC 4: Beach Party” was a strong contender. Anyway. 2,500 people showed up at the West Bank again. This is around the time when other cities started having zombie pub crawls.
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  ZPC 5: It’s Starting to Stink (2009)

  We added the Cabooze this year to make room for more zombies. 5,000 people came, and it was generally mayhem everywhere.
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  ZPC 6: It Just Won’t Die! (2010)

  This is the year we had to start selling tickets to the pub crawl to pay for security, cleanup, and a bunch of other stuff. We added block parties in downtown and the Cabooze. 14,000 zombies showed up.

  You can also check out the ZPC 2010 Official Map, which turned out pretty rad.
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  ZPC 7: A Terror of Two Cities (2011)

  We started running out of room to put all the zombies, so we invited St. Paul to the party. Andrew W.K. played in Mears Park, while 2 Live Crew played at the Cabooze. 25,000 zombies showed up. You can also view the 2011 Preview Poster and the ever-awesome ZPC 2011 Official Map.
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  ZPC 8: Viva la Zombie Pub Crawl! (2012)

  We moved the St. Paul party to Midway Stadium and called it “Zombie Island” for some reason. There was a full carnival for the zombies, fireworks, and building on fire. DMX played, although he showed up about four hours late. (What a jerk.) In Minneapolis, the Gin Blossoms played, and were actually really good. We had a bunch of metal bands and DJs and other stuff too.

  Grain Belt Premium made a limited-edition beer called “Brain Belt,” we set the Guinness World Record for “Largest Gathering of Zombies” at Midway Stadium, and we introduced Phil, the world’s largest zombie (he’s 50′ tall from his waist up. He doesn’t have legs.) About 30,000 zombies showed up. You can also take a look at the 2012 Preview Poster.
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  ZPC 9: Quarantine (2013)

  In 2013, the zombie horde was lured to a giant quarantined area in downtown Minneapolis using such bait as music (Sublime w/ Rome, Flock of Seagulls, and more), amusements (a giant LED ferris wheel), refreshments (Brain Belt beer), and food (the first-ever Brain-Eating Championships, ft Joey Chestnut, plus food trucks). We also invited Trick Daddy, Ying Yang Twins, and Bubba Sparxxx to the party, and added a “Trapped in the Closet Sing-Along” and a 6.66K zombie charity run as well. Was “ZPC 9: Quarantine” the greatest zombie pub crawl in history? It was, until...
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  ZPC X (2014)

  In 2014, the Zombie Pub Crawl celebrated its 10th year with the craziest zombie party yet. The bloody mayhem moved to Downtown's Warehouse District, and invited superstar headliners Steve Aoki and Juicy J to join in the fun. Resistance Pro Wrestling was on hand, as was competitive eating legend Kobayashi, who crushed the competition at the second World Brain-Eating Championships.
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  ZPC 2015

  After officially being declared the “World’s Largest Zombie Horde” by the Guinness Book of World Records, the Zombie Pub Crawl returned in 2015 with a huge party headlined by Girl Talk, Sum 41, Seven Lions, Lil Dicky, Soulja Boy, Aaron Carter, Mini Kiss, and the return of the World Brain-Eating Championship.
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  ZPC 2016

  The crawling dead returned to downtown Minneapolis in 2016, and this time they were joined by Rae Sremmurd, Zomboy, Ja Rule, Smash Mouth, ILoveMakonnen, Andrew WK, a bunch of undead burlesque dancers, tons of DJs, and the first-ever ZPC Costume Contest, which was won by a Canadian dude walking around in a demonic bone suit he made out of an actual deer carcass. Which, now that we think about it, is super crazy.
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  ZPC 2017

  ZPC returned to downtown Minneapolis in 2017 with its biggest lineup yet: Third Eye Blind, Tech N9ne, T-Pain, Jillionaire of Major Lazer, the guy who played Jason in the first “Friday the 13th,” the return of the ZPC costume contest… and, of course, the world’s largest zombie horde. It rained a little, but the zombies barely noticed. We also added “Zombie Week”—a full itinerary of awesome zombie-themed events for all ages during the week leading up to ZPC!
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  ZPC 2018

  The 14th year of the Zombie Pub Crawl will take the horde back to its roots by returning to Northeast Minneapolis! Now home to the city’s largest concentration of breweries and taprooms, Northeast is the perfect target for a mob of thirsty undead ghouls. ASAP Ferg, Alison Wonderland, DJ Diesel (aka Shaquille O’Neal), Snow tha Product, Twista, and a host of other artists will keep the party lively (despite all the zombies everywhere). This year also marks another return: We’re bringing the World Brain-Eating Championship back, to see if Joey Chestnut can beat his record of 54 brain tacos in 8 minutes. Don’t miss the world’s largest zombie party!