The simultaneous drop in temperature and spike in foliage color can only mean one thing: fall is here. Fall brings with it many things, including sweaters, pumpkins and, of course, Halloween. Here to help Fort Collins get into that Halloween spirit is the Zombie Crawl, taking place Saturday from 5 to 9:30 p.m.

The Zombie Crawl started four years ago when organizer Nathan Scott was finally able to bring his vision of a different kind of zombie event to life.

“My wife and I had been down to the Denver Zombie Crawl, and it was fun,” Scott said. “But I wanted to do something up here that was more interactive and had more of a crawl atmosphere rather than just walking around.”

To do this, Scott brought in a variety of sponsors that participants can hit up during the crawl to receive a special treat. These treats range from T-shirts, to beer, to a variety of food. One wristband entitles a participant to five treats of their choice.

“I chose a T-shirt, a Ben and Jerry’s cone, a Philly cheesesteak and DP Dough,” said CSU student, Meredith Rauch, who took part in last year’s crawl. “I had food for the whole weekend.”

The excitement of stocking up on good food, or scoring a quality pint combined with the enthusiasm many people have for putting together a good costume makes for quite a lively scene.

Anthropology major Kelly Fetchenhier, a student who accidentally stumbled upon the event a couple years ago, can attest to this.

“I was just going to dinner and there were all these people dressed as zombies dancing around, going to bars and just having a good time,” Fetchenhier said.

While it’s true that some participants look at the event as a good excuse to experience the novelty of grabbing a drink while pretending to be undead, the Old Town Zombie Fest is an event for all ages.

Students, adults, children and even families all turn out for the event dressed in varying degrees of zombie attire.

“It was really awesome to see how extreme some people went. I saw an entire family all out in costume and walking like true zombies,” Rauch said.

Scott agrees that one of the main attractions is seeing other people’s costumes and admiring their zeal for the theme as well as their creativity. He encourages participants to let their imaginations run away with them when it comes to creating a costume for the event.

“Every year people really outdo themselves, so everyone should come down just to see the costumes that some people put together,” Scott said. “And the event is not strictly for traditional zombies. You could come as a monster, or a mummy, a TV show character. I even saw a zombie Ghandi once.”

The Crawl itself is accompanied by a Zombie Ball at Washington’s Bar starting after the Crawl at 10 p.m. The ball is a 21 and up event and has proved very successful in the past.

Tickets for the ball can be purchased for $15 and wristbands for the Crawl can be purchased ahead of time for $16 or the day of for $20. Combo tickets that allow entry to both the Crawl and the Ball are available for $27.

All proceeds will go to the Turning Point organization, which helps at-risk youth and is something that Scott has been involved with for many years. In fact, raising funds for the organization was one of Scott’s main motivations for getting the Zombie Crawl up and running.

More information can be found on the Fort Collins Zombie Crawl Facebook page, which currently has over three thousand fans. The page is updated regularly and Scott hopes to hit four thousand fans.

Entertainment Reporter Katie Salka can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com.