The Silver Spring Penguin

Nearly 200 people in zombie duds lurched through downtown Silver Spring Saturday night as part of the area’s first annual zombie walk.

The crew — a tattered, pasty-faced amalgam of undead from Silver Spring and The District — slammed the Quarry House Tavern at 8:30 p.m., clamoring for beer and brains. At least 20 zombies hovered outside the basement bar, smoking cigarettes, posing for photos, and mauling drivers on Bonifant Street. A concurrent gig rocked the Piratz Tavern directly across the street on Georgia Avenue.

In this election year, there was no shortage of politically themed costumes. A half-dozen corpses munching on Quarry House tots declared themselves to be Zombies for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. Another zombie carried a lawn sign supporting the McCain-Palin Republican ticket. And one more tried to resurrect the long-dead presidential campaign of US Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

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By 9:30 p.m., many of the zombies made their way north on Georgia and onto Ellsworth Drive, where they attacked one woman exiting a costume shop. The woman was not permanently killed. More zombies abandoned their cry for “Braaiinnss!” and opted for “Shoooes!” as they passed a DSW store.

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Along Fenton Street, the undead were drawn to the City Place mall, where one security guard was quick to lock the glass doors. Further down the block towards Colesville Road, zombies fixed their lifeless gazes on the Taste of Morocco restaurant, which has a large window facing Fenton. Two restaurant patrons noshing on hummus were not injured.

The zombies eventually staggered into the AFI Silver Theatre for a 10:30 p.m. screening of — what else? — George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead”.

Braaiinnss! And two tickets for the 10:30 show, please.

While the event was mostly without incident, two security guards did argue with two photographers on Ellsworth near Fenton. It’s unclear how the argument started. However, one guard ordered the photogs not to snap her picture, while the photogs insisted the outdoor mall was a public space. When the other guard flashed what appeared to be a law-enforcement badge, one of the shutterbugs reached for his cell phone and said he would phone the police.

All four of them brought their argument to a police officer standing in a public crosswalk, behind a plastic barrier that separates it from the privately leased part of Ellsworth. The female guard accused one of the photogs of hitting her with his SLR camera, while the photographer said it was the guard who placed her hand over the camera lens. The argument ended with the photogs walking away, and the guards shouting at them to “get a life”.

Last summer, shutterbugs argued that the Downtown Silver Spring shopping center was a public space, and that photography there was protected under the First Amendment. MoCo exec Ike Leggett agreed, though the shopping center insists that photographers can be asked to stop snapping if patrons object, or if store owners believe the photography infringes on proprietary rights.

It’s unclear whether the security guards involved in Saturday’s kerfuffle were hired by the shopping center, or by the adjacent movie theater.

Still photography courtesy of Chip Py the Photo Guy. Video photography by Ron Pace for The Silver Spring Penguin.