Newquay is in for a day of frightful fun and monstrous mayhem for people to celebrate Hallowe’en.
The gargantuan Zombie Crawl will be held through the town centre on Saturday, October 26 at 3pm.
But before the main event, families and thrill seekers of all ages can sharpen their claws and perfect their wounds and monster moves, by taking part in a number of the town’s free to attend workshops.
The varied interactive workshop sessions will cover everything from ‘perfecting your zombie walk’ to ‘mastering gruesome makeup techniques’. So whether a seasoned zombie or a first-time participant, the experts across Newquay’s businesses will help transform people into the most gruesome and gory version of themselves.
The scary sessions taking place between 11.30am until 2.30pm include a wounds workshop at The Concho Lounge, a pumpkin carving tutorial at Project 93 and a host of fabulously frightful face painting sessions at the Lighthouse Cinema, Fins Surf School, Newquay Beach Hotel and On The Lash simultaneously. Also, between this timeframe, creepy zombie crawlers can make their way to the Piazza, opposite the Lighthouse Cinema to try their hand at some serious circus skills which they can show off during the main crawl.
Meanwhile, from 12pm at The Boathouse on the harbour, a zombie clothes and zombie banners workshop will be held and visitors to the town will see some spooktacular statues and fiery stilt walkers creating plentiful frights and mischief on the high street. Not to be missed, a spinetingling series of ‘spooky witches’ story times’ will commence on the hour at Newquay Library at 12pm and 2pm and at Clemo Books at 1pm.
Devilish dance workshops will be quite literally popping up between 12pm and 2pm throughout the town, delivered by Bounce Dance Academy and 4Motion and intriguing installations from Cornwall Theatre School can be witnessed across the town at the same time.
All of these sessions are free-of-charge for everyone to attend. Throughout the day, keep an eye out for the ghoulish whoosh of the Ghost Train riding through the town and hop on if you dare...Additionally, further fun is to be had at East Street’s RideOn E-Bikes from 12pm to 5pm via the ongoing apple bobbing alongside the seriously Spooky Photobooth. There may be a charge to partake in these activities.
In a scene not dissimilar to that of a dystopian movie, at 3pm, thousands of affected Zombies, including lifeguards, petrifying pirates and pop stars, will gather at Sydney Road, next to Sainsbury’s, to join the horror show, working their way through the wicked wasteland of Newquay’s main street, ending at Newquay Train Station. But the party doesn’t end there as a number of venues invite little legs into their Young Ghoul Discos. These include The Griffin Inn and Steam Bar who are hosting a party with DJ Beaker from 3pm to 6pm. Oceanside Hotel is also holding a Halloween family UV party from 2pm to 4pm as well as other town venues.
Across the rest of the Half Term week, visitors to Newquay can seek spooky monster offers right through the town. Additionally, Visit Newquay will be running its brilliant free Halloween Zombie Trail. To participate, individuals and families must simply head for the Newquay Tourist Information Centre to collect a clue sheet. Then they can follow the creepy clues to the shops, picking up letters as they go.
Across the resort, Newquay businesses will also be getting involved by ‘spookifying’ their shop fronts, their teams, their wares and their products. ‘The scarier the better’ is the only criteria in decorating windows, stores, and people, and the best-dressed storefronts will win themselves a prize.
Love Newquay + Newquay Business Improvement District (BID) manager, Mark Warren said: “Spooky Newquay is creeping ever closer and we are all feeling suitably petrified! Jokes aside, we’re really delighted that the event is set to be bigger and better than ever before this year due to funding from Experience Newquay, a Cornwall Council project. This has meant we have been able to increase the scale, reach, quantity and scare-factor of the rolling workshops taking place across the town’s businesses. For that we are very grateful and incredibly excited.
“Again, if local Newquay businesses have events and activities planned that we are not already aware of, please do share these with the Newquay BID team who will promote on their behalf. Please send to [email protected]
“We can’t wait to see all of this as our entire town transforms itself into one of the scariest places in the country – all in the name of frighteningly good fun.”
Spooky Newquay has been organised by Newquay Business Improvement District (BID) with support from Experience Newquay on behalf of Cornwall Council’s Good Growth Fund. For further information on Spooky Newquay, please visit Love Newquay’s website at lovenqy.co.uk for the latest updates and follow the social channels.
Experience Newquay is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It aims to support a resilient year-round visitor economy and highlight Newquay’s unique identity. It provides support in training, cultural curation, marketing, and impact evaluation, aiming to attract both local and national visitors sustainably. With this investment, the festival is set to rejuvenate Newquay’s town centre and support local enterprises.