Henderson gets apocalyptic with Zombie Run 5k

Kevin Peachey is no stranger to dressing up as holiday characters.

A leprechaun, with a dyed red beard, for St. Patrick’s Day. Santa Claus, with all of the seasonal sartorial trimmings, at Christmas. That sort of thing.

But on Saturday, Peachey will enter completely new holiday territory when, in celebration of Halloween, he and his wife will play the part of zombies at Henderson’s inaugural Zombie Run 5k and Family Fun Walk.

The event begins at 3:30 p.m. at Equestrian Park South, 1200 Equestrian Drive. Registration is $12 to $25 for the 5k run and $6 to $25 for the Family Fun Walk. To register, follow the link at www.cityofhenderson.com/parks/events/zombie5k.php

Participants can choose to follow either a zombie-peppered course or a zombie-free course. Both begin and end at Equestrian Park South, where post run/walk entertainment will include a bounce house, face-painting and performance groups.

“Of course, we encourage those who participate in the race to wear zombie costumes or any Halloween costume,” city spokeswoman Nicole Johnson says.

Medals will be awarded to 5k participants who cross the finish line. Johnson notes there are no prizes but the opportunity to “just go out there and have some fun.”

Johnson says that although the city has sponsored Halloween 5k races before, “with the whole zombie phenomenon, we wanted to get something that actually spans all generations, and we think a fun way to do that is with the Zombie Run.”

The zombie-free Family Fun Walk is, Johnson jokes, for “those scaredy cats” who might prefer a less-intense Halloween-type experience. But runners on the other course will meet zombies “strategically placed along the route.”

Although zombies are not permitted to have physical contact with participants, they will be able to interact. “We’re just going to have fun with it,” Johnson says.

How did the city, um, recruit zombies for the event? “Actually, we haven’t had to recruit,” Johnson says. “They’ve been calling, asking, (and saying), ‘I’d love to be a zombie.’ ”

“A lot of them have seen it on social media or our web. They’re all, like, ‘Do you need zombies?’ ” Johnson says with a laugh.

“Quite a few of them are just members of the community, just volunteers. We have two makeup artists who will be out there doing makeup for the zombies. One, I believe, does movie makeup, so that will be pretty cool to see.”

Peachey and his wife, Shannon, plan to be two of the zombies runners will encounter. Kevin Peachey is a Safekey volunteer and happened to notice a poster of the event in the Safekey office.

“I said, ‘Can I do this, too?’ ” he says.

“I do a lot of stuff in Henderson, and I’m a freelance Santa. And, to be honest with you, most of what I do I don’t get paid for. So I’m a nonprofit Santa.”

This weekend, Peachey figures he can add to his holiday character resume by becoming a “nonprofit zombie.”

Peachey acknowledges that he’s more of a Christmas fan, and not really much of a Halloween fan. But, he says, “my wife loves Halloween, and when I mentioned it, her eyes lit up. I’d go straight into Christmas mode, but she won’t let me decorate for Christmas until after Halloween.”

So, the couple not only signed on, but recruited Peachey’s boss at Prestige Assisted Living in Henderson to join in. Does Peachey’s Santa skills translate into being a zombie for Halloween?

“I don’t know,” he says. “I tell everybody I have multiple personalities, that I do characters for other holidays. So I (now) have a zombie personality, too.”

For inspiration, Peachey plans to think back to the zombies in movies he saw as a kid — you know, he says, the ones that lurch about in black-and-white “and say, ‘Braaains!’

“I think that was from one of the old zombie movies. I can’t remember the name. It was probably 30 years ago or more when I saw it, and all they do is run around going ‘Braaains!’ ”

Peachey and his wife already had their zombie duds picked out last week.

“I have some powder blue slacks I bought,” he says. “I bought the ugliest dress shirt I could find from a thrift store, and the ugliest tie, too. And when I explained that to one of my co-workers, she said, ‘That sounds like a used car salesman.’ ”

Meanwhile, he says, “my wife is going to be Prom Queen Zombie, and my co-worker is going to be a Bride Zombie. She has an old wedding dress. So, yeah, it should really be interesting.”

Now, he’s looking forward to seeing what the makeup people can do.

“They tell me they’re going to have a latex person,” Peachey says. “I’m hoping I don’t have a hairy head. I’m hoping they can do my head to look like exposed brains.”

Because the zombies won’t be permitted to touch walkers — a word that, oddly, has a whole different meaning here than it does in the cable zombie hit “The Walking Dead” — Peachey’s strategy will be “kind of lying still near the path, making it look like I’m a prop so people think I’m not real, and as they come up, I’ll just kind of paw at them and (say), ‘Braaains!’ ”

It sounds old school, as zombies go, but it works for Peachey. And “The Walking Dead”?

“I have never seen a single episode,” Peachey says.

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.