 Jeff Shah and welcome to another episode of In the Studio. We're recording these remotely during the pandemic and today we have a very special guest to talk about a very special topic, the Zombie Bike Ride of 2020. I'd like to welcome Aaron Wedra to the show. Welcome Aaron, good to see you. Why don't you tell me a little bit about this event and how you got involved and maybe a little bit of history. Okay, thank you so much for having me, Jeff. This is a real honor. I could sum up the Zombie Bike Ride in one word. It's all about brains. And the brains behind it are the Davis Odd Fellows and the Bike Campaign. These are two Davis organizations, both nonprofits. In fact, it was Dave Rosenberg who one day asked me, out of the blue, Aaron, do you want to be the chairperson of a Zombie Bike Ride? And I said, yeah, of course. I don't know how he knew it, but I've always been into zombies and I was a member or not a member, but I worked for the Bike Campaign in Davis. So you know, I really felt like I would fit that role. And so we created the Zombie Bike Ride Committee and we started organizing. And is this the first year for the Zombie Bike Ride? It's the second annual Zombie Bike Ride. Last year was our first year that we ever had this event and it was on Sunday, October 20th. We started in Central Park and we did a very small bike parade. It was about 20 minutes long. There were 175 zombies on bikes and it started and it started and ended at Central Park. At Central Park there were vendors of all sorts, food and drinks, and it was even during the Square Tomatoes craft fair. So there were a lot more than 175 people at the park celebrating with us. And we even had a Mirror Image Dance Company do Michael Jackson's thriller and they all had makeup on. We had a big blast the first year, but as we'll explain shortly, we had to do a huge kind of revamp on what this would look like during COVID-19 this year. Right, and we're looking at some pictures from last year just to get a sense of how much fun it is. And this year what would you say, what is the plan this year? What's happening this year and are any ages welcome to join and tell me a little bit about, say, the route and what's happening this year for the event? All right. So probably six months ago, we were at that point where we had the conversation that so many organizations in town have had. Are we going to go forward with our event? And, you know, we might have said no, let's just not do it this year. But Maria Contreras Tabut, the founder of the bike campaign, had an ingenious idea. Let's have the bike parade not be a parade. Let's just invite the community to go on a bike ride on Halloween itself on the 13-mile Davis bike loop. Because then it's simply having, you know, an exercise opportunity to dress up in your Halloween costume and we're going to be socially distanced over 13 miles. And we wouldn't need to have an event. We would need no permits. And it's true. The PD said, yes, this is simply exercise. And we had the green light and we started planning. That sounds excellent. And I noticed that you bleed green just like a true zombie. And so people are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes. And if they are zombie or not, it's up to them. They can wear anything. Yes. The first year it was come as a zombie. And this year it's let's save Halloween. Six months ago we had no idea what the landscape would look like in October. We didn't know if people would be going trick-or-treating and really we still don't know. I've seen some Yolo County guidelines that kind of suggest maybe don't go trick-or-treating. Definitely don't approach houses where the lights are off. Some people are uncomfortable with the concept. That being said, some families still will go out. But for those who don't want to, from 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock on Halloween, we're going to have a lot of entertainment on the 13-mile bike loop. We're going to have zombie entertainment and some surprises. So if you have your bikes ready, take your family out on the bike loop. And that could be somewhat of a substitute if you aren't going to go trick-or-treating. And even if you are going to go trick-or-treating, you could still enjoy a bike ride with your family on that day. This sounds like the perfect social distance way to celebrate Halloween, and as well as a perfect event for Davis. I wanted to ask, are any ages welcome to join? And how long is the route, and can people join at any time? You mentioned from 12 to 3, but is that the start time for everyone, or how does it work? Okay, so for the logistics, we decided let's not have a starting point or an ending point. Let's let the public join on the route at any location on the 13 miles. The Davis bike loop almost through every point in Davis. It's a giant loop that goes through Davis. Join anywhere where you would like. Ride as far as you would like. Although I have been on an annual bike ride on the bike loop itself, and I've seen that young children and older people, everyone seems capable of finishing the entire 13 miles for the most part. So I do encourage trying for the 13 miles. But if people want to plan a shorter route, that's absolutely okay. On our website and on our Facebook, we have uploaded a really cool looking Halloween map of Davis that has the points for where you're going to find zombie entertainment, as well as some nice picnic areas and two areas where we'll have bike mechanics. If you start to hear a clicking sound on your bike, or you've had some bike trouble that you've been wanting someone to help you with, please check out that map. It's a very helpful thing. And you could plan your route and do as much or as little as you'd like from 12 o'clock to three o'clock on Halloween. So besides being a fun Halloween event, and with lots of opportunities for kids to participate and see some pretty fun Halloween activity along the route, which they can get the map on from your website, as you just mentioned, I also understand this is a benefit or there is a benefit component. So if you participate, how do people contribute exactly? And what does it go to as a benefit? Yeah, I really love how we've just dived right in. There are so many cool details. I'm glad you're reminding me to cover. This is a free ride. Anyone can join and there's no cost. But we have a lot of sponsors this year, and that's how we've raised money for our beneficiary. Our beneficiary is NorCal Trikers. They were also our beneficiary in 2019. We had raised $2,000, where we were able to purchase two bicycles for them. And what they do is they create custom tricycles for children with special needs. So these custom tricycles are modified in a way that children can ride them who wouldn't be able to ride a normal bicycle. This year, through sponsorships, we've raised a lot more than $2,000. Generous sponsors have given us around $12,000. So we're going to be able to donate a lot more than two bikes. We're looking at it more like eight bikes, and maybe more. But we're going to use some of the funds, of course, for entertainment itself to put on an excellent zombie bike ride. So it's very exciting. And a way for the public to contribute towards NorCal Trikers is to go to our website or our Facebook, and you'll find an opportunity to purchase really cool zombie bike ride t-shirts. This year's design. These are printed by the Ink Monkey and Davis. The design itself is done by a friend of mine who I met at Sac City College. His name is Christopher McCreary. His business is Super Crackin, and those are glow-in-the-dark t-shirts. So they're $20 each, and the funds go towards NorCal Trikers. So that's a way that anybody can contribute towards our beneficiary. So that's a non-profit, the Odd Fellows, a non-profit, the bike campaign, putting on a public bike ride to raise money for another non-profit. And we're just trying to have a lot of fun. Yeah, I noticed there's just tons of sponsors, which seems to show sort of a large community support. You listed some of the major sponsors. Maybe talk, maybe mention a couple of them again if you went mind just for people watching. Yeah, I'd be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to give a shout out to our major sponsors, the Stewart Foundation. They're an amazing organization that also sponsors the Odd Fellows for Breakfast with Santa each year. Another major sponsor is Kim Eichhorn with Lion Real Estate. The Davis Cemetery and Arboretum District is a major sponsor two years in a row now. Lori Prismich and associates of Remax Gold. The Ink Monkey gives a huge discount on these t-shirts for us so that even more of the profits from the t-shirts goes towards our beneficiary. And Bike City Theater Company, they're the ones who are providing the zombie entertainment on the bike loop and they are giving funds and resources towards the entertainment. And Visit YOLO and Visit Davis are a major sponsor. And I think those are our major sponsors and also Panier Foods. They just came on board and they're even going to provide zombie food for all of our volunteers on the day of the event, which is something that we've been dreaming of for a long time. I don't know if it's going to be scrambled eggs or rice crispy treats that look like brains or something, but they're going to do something creative for us. It seems like a great, it's just a great event that people can come together, especially during the pandemic and sort of have some fun whimsical. It's a good, goes to a good cause and everyone can participate sort of at whatever level they want. I'm wondering if you, speaking of the events on again on October 31st for everyone who wants to join and they can get a map at your website, zombiebikeride. Did I get that right? zombiebikeride.com? It's a, we're calling it the zombie bike ride this year, but it's zombiebikeparade.com. Okay. And so speaking of it being called a zombie bike ride this year, are there any specific rules that you'd like to mention about the event for people to either follow or because it is a pandemic year that you want to mention now, so that when people do join they are following their following protocol or staying safe. Yeah, absolutely. We really want people to wear masks at all times if possible, but the Yolo County guidelines are the guidelines that apply. We can't supersede those. I know there are rules that if there's a two year old or younger, they don't need to wear masks. So we're not inventing any rules to override Yolo County's rules, but we really would love to see people following the mandates. So social distancing is very important to allow us to put on a bike ride like this and have a lot of fun as a community. Social distancing, let's all wear our masks at all times when possible to the best of our abilities. And really, I believe that's it. Over 13 miles, we anticipate that this is realistically going to be safe, a lot safer than a lot of things that we're doing on a regular basis these days. Yeah, for sure. And I kind of hesitate to even ask this question, but since it is fall, if there's a little bit, how does it work? Is the event still happening? If there's a little bit of rain? Or if parents probably want to know? So go ahead and let people know. How are you going to decide whether or not to host everything and have these events along the route if there's a little bit of sprinkles? Yeah, we're really full throttle about that. We're not trying to jinx ourselves. We have no control over the weather. We certainly don't want to talk about smoke issues in October. We would certainly want people to use common sense, don't want to create any unsafe situations. If the event is rained out or smoked out, that's just terribly bad luck. But we don't have a backup plan for that. But a little bit of rain is probably not too big of a deal, I imagine. Thank you, exactly. If it's sprinkling, please come out. It'll be more fun for the sprinkling. Right, and the zombies will look even more horrendous, when it's raining. I'll let the makeup running into my eyes. Where can people find out more information again if you went mind giving the website one last time? And that's also where they can pick up a map, I understand. Yeah, www.zombiebikeprade.com. And that is where you could download our PDF map. You could download it to your phone. You could choose to print it out if you'd like. And there's a number there. If you run into any problems the day of the event, just give us a call. We'll help you find your way. Though we anticipate there'll be enough people on the route that you could just look to the next person and find your way. That sounds like a lot of fun. I want to thank you, Erin, for joining us today. Thanks for joining us. This has been Erin Wedra, the Zombie Bike Ride Committee Chair. Thanks again for joining us and we encourage people to go to the Zombie Bike Parade on October 31st and go to the website for more information. Thanks again, Erin. Thank you, Jeff, and everyone behind the scenes. All right, you can see more programs like this on davismedia.org. We are recording all of these remotely during the pandemic. And if you'd like to see more, go to davismedia.org. Thanks for joining us. My name is Jeff Shaw. Catch you next time.