TOLEDO, Ohio — After more than ten years of costumes, music, and thousands of participants, the Adams Street Zombie Crawl has officially come to an end.
The Village on Adams, the neighborhood nonprofit that organized the event, announced this week that the annual bar crawl — once one of Toledo’s most popular street parties — will no longer take place. First launched by local arts advocate Ryan Bunch as a casual gathering, the Zombie Crawl grew into a massive production, peaking in 2017 with more than 17,000 wristbands sold.
Organizers say the event had simply outgrown Adams Street. The costs of fencing, security, and logistics, combined with neighborhood concerns, led to the decision to retire it permanently.
The Zombie Crawl last took place in 2023, following earlier pauses during the pandemic and in 2024. While the event is ending, The Village on Adams says it is planning new music, arts, and cultural events to keep the tradition of community celebrations alive on Adams Street.
