Zombie Run 5K & Family Run was AWESOME!

After two long years of anticipation after being derailed in 2024 by the devastating damage from Hurricane Helene, the Rotary Club of Morganton presented our first Zombie Run 5K and 1 Mile Family Fun Run in downtown Morganton on Saturday, October 11, 2025.  Imagine your traditional, run-of-the-mill 5k race, but throw in groups of zombies who are under a mission to steal the Velcro flags from belts worn by the runners – lose your flags, and penalties are deducted from your time. Or, if that’s a little too much, the Family Fun Run still has zombies lurking in your path, but no flags involved.  It all came together for a special Halloween season event while raising funds for great causes in our local community.

This year’s organizations receiving donations from the proceeds are Habitat for Humanity of Burke County and The Enola Group – Burleson House.  The Rotary Club of Morganton partnered with these organizations due to the great work they do in Morganton and Burke County – neighbors helping neighbors. A huge debt of gratitude to our headline “Runner” sponsor, UNC Health Blue Ridge, along with all our other sponsors listed below and all of our indispensable volunteers, without which we could not have pulled off this event. A big thank you also goes out to the Morganton Department of Public Safety for their help ensuring the safety of our participants and volunteers.

We will be adding photos to our gallery once those are available.

Lurker Sponsors:  EmergeOrtho, DHW CPAs & Strategic Advisors, Opportunity Threads, Packaging Corporation of America

Roamer Sponsors:  Cloninger Ford, Hannah’s Wash Dry & Fold, Rotary Club of Ukraine Kyiv-Capital, Table Rock Printers, Wendy B’s, Edward Jones (Tyler Barnhardt & Scott Brooks), The Paper, Case Farms, Burke County Smart Start

Creeper Sponsors:  Blackbox Sandwiches, Appalachian Naturescapes, Electronic Sales & Marketing, Lowdermilk Church & Co, Raiz Y Ceilo, Sunlight Health, Smith Builders, Thompson Realty, Uncle Eee’s

Crawler Sponsors:  MoonDog Pizza, Momentum Tire & Car Care, Blue Ridge Energies, Mr. Ron George

Honorable Mention to our friends at Sidetracked Brewing for joining us and bringing the special Zombie Slayer Witbier to mark the occasion.