[SLIDESHOW & VIDEO] Things get ‘creepy’ with Thriller Parade downtown

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By Megan Hurt
Parts of Limestone and Main streets were blocked off to traffic Friday night, but it wasn’t because of construction.
Lexington police blocked off the streets so thousands of people could watch the 500 zombies dance to Michael Jackson’­­s “Thriller.”
The event is an annual Halloween parade organized by Mecca Dance Studio and Gallery where hundreds of people, including a Michael Jackson impersonator, re-enact the famous short film “Thriller,” performing the dance on the streets of downtown Lexington.
This year, the event set a record in zombies performing the “Thriller” dance. At the first parade in 2001, 50 people participated in the dance. Last year almost 300 people came out to celebrate Halloween Michael Jackson-style.
On Friday, over 500 people dressed up like Zombies and performed the Thriller dance as they walked down Main Street and up Limestone towards the courthouse.
Katie Powless, an elementary education senior and Kelly Morris, a UK graduate student, had watched from the sidewalks the year before, but decided they wanted to be zombies this year.
Like other zombies, Powless and Morris played dead on the sidewalk before the event started, then “came alive” to swarm the Jackson impersonator, played by UK business freshman Alex Sanders, and start the dance.
“While we were laying down very still, the side of my body fell asleep,” Morris said. “So, when I got up half my body was still asleep. It was easy to pretend to walk like a zombie with my body asleep.”
Through the course of the parade, which started in front of The Kentucky Theater and ended at the courthouse, Powless and Morris said they performed the “Thriller” routine eight times.
“It wasn’t tiring, the walking part was tiring, and standing still, but not the dancing part,” Powless said.
Morris said entertaining the crowd was the best part of being a zombie.
“Little kids were scared of us, which is unusual because we’re teachers,” she said.
Thousands of people from Lexington and the surrounding communities came out to watch the performances, lining the streets and following the parade as it moved down Main Street.
Morgan Jones, a Bryan Station High School senior, heard about the event from her friends and decided to see what it was like.
“I really like Michael Jackson and the Thriller music video,” she said. “So I thought (the parade) was really good.”
Ben McCrady, also a Bryan Station High School senior, wanted to see the Thriller Parade once before he went off to college next year.
“I heard about it from friends and the newspaper, so I thought I would go while I had the chance,” he said.
McCrady thought the event was entertaining and liked how the zombies interacted with the crowd as they walked past the lines of people.
“It was creepy to see everyone dressed up like zombies, and they were trying to scare you,” he said. “Everyone did a good job dancing and I thought the whole thing was really cool.”