Davis, CA — Davis is raising a zombie horde for Halloween, and it is free. The 8th annual Zombie Bike Parade Halloweekend Festival takes over Community Park on Saturday, October 31, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with 25-plus entertainment stations, a BMX stunt show, a morning Monster Run, downtown trick-or-treating, and a 2:30 p.m. skydiving-zombie finale.
The Halloween Schedule
The festival is free, all ages, and a bike is optional. The organizers lay the day out across Davis like this:
- 8 to 10 a.m.: Monster Run
- 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: the Zombie Bike Parade, an under-five-mile ride on Davis bike paths from Community Park to Mace Ranch Park and back
- 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.: StuntMasters BMX Stunt Show
- 12:30 to 2 p.m.: Monster Skate Jam
- 2:30 p.m.: the SkyDance skydiving grand finale, weather permitting
- 3 to 5 p.m.: a downtown Trick-or-Treat Trail
At Community Park, the festival packs in more than 25 free entertainment stations, including a Halloween train, zombie bike mechanics, arts and crafts, live bats, games, bounce houses, and a Zombie Kingdom Quest. Costumes are encouraged but not required, and in strong-weather years the ride has drawn thousands of costumed creatures.
A Free Festival for a Cause
The Zombie Bike Parade benefits NorCal Trykers, a group that builds custom adaptive tricycles so children with disabilities can ride. The organizers say the festival has raised more than $50,000 since 2019 and funded 42 custom trikes, which cost about $1,600 each. The mission behind the day, they say, is to make bicycling available to everyone, including kids who cannot ride a standard bike.
A West Coast Zombie Horde
The festival started in 2019 with about 250 riders and has grown to thousands, with peak attendance around 3,500. To the organizers, it is a West Coast answer to Florida’s older, larger zombie bike rides, a broader community-wide version built in Davis, the college town just west of Sacramento.
The Zombie Bike Parade Halloweekend Festival is free and open to all at Community Park, 1405 F Street in Davis, on Saturday, October 31. Full details are at zombiebikeparade.com. For more Halloween happenings around the state, see our guide to haunted houses in California.
