The first year, about 20 undead came out. Last year, twice as many.

Catherine Krupsky hopes Zombie Kickball III is bigger and undeader than ever. This time, she’s also hoping no cops show up.

“Last year, we created a stir with a Little League game,” Krupsky said. “There was a group of 40 zombies waiting to use the field and it was scary to 10-year-olds.”

The moaning and random patches of blood were explained and all was eventually well. This time, precautions were taken. The event kicks off Sunday, June 29, at 2 p.m. on the Eastern Promenade field in Portland. It’s open to anyone willing to channel their inner zombie, no advance sign-up necessary. The skinny on the rain-or-shine game, in Krupsky’s own words:

Is real kickball talent needed or desired?

Not really, it’s more important for zombie players to have theatrical aptitude than athletic prowess – it’s all about how you kick the ball, but not so much about how fast or how far you kick it.

Say you don’t want to play but still want to zombie out. Possible?

Absolutely, zombie spectators set the stage for the game!

Inexpensive ways to zombie yourself up?

Tubes of cheap, white cream makeup and cheap gel blood are sold at local party stores around the state – they run between $2 and $4 a pop.

White cream makeup, spread sparingly over the face, neck, arms and hands, will replicate the awful pallor of the undead. And gel blood, spilled liberally around the mouth and over the hands, will indicate the horrible proclivity of the undead. Darkening your eyes and staining your clothing is so simple. Applying rotting flesh and adding festering wounds can be a little bit tricky. There are zillions of movies you can watch for character inspiration, and hundreds of Web sites you can visit for technical instruction. Visit our MySpace profile (search Zombie Kickball) – we list a few great zombie flicks on our page, and link a couple of good zombie pages in our blog.

– Kathryn Skelton

Copy the Story Link