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Community Corner

WD Library Hosts First Annual Teen Zombie Night

As part of its young adult program, West Deptford Library invited teens to transform into zombies on Tuesday night.

Zombies invaded the West Deptford Public Library on Tuesday evening as local teenagers participated in Teen Zombie Night. An event that is part of the library's young adult program, the kids were given zombie make-up and shown how just a few materials and a little bit of effort can make for a great costume this Halloween.

For the library's young adult librarian Carol Murphy, she said this year was the first time that they ever had a zombie event, but everything seemed to run very smoothly.

To start the zombie transformation process, the kids used tissue paper and red food coloring to create blood on their hands. The food coloring, Murphy explained, is able to dry on the skin by placing it under a fan for a few minutes.

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“I spent my day on Sunday trying to figure out the best way to do this,” said Murphy as she demonstrated drying the food coloring on the hands. “This is the first time I've ever done this.”

After drying the "blood" on their hands, the kids got their faces made up. For the faces, makeup kits featuring colors such as white, black, gray, red and green were used to create a zombie-like effect. The kids helped each other create designs on their faces that gave them an eerie appearance, such as using black makeup to create long, large bags under their eyes. Red was used for the color of blood around their mouths.

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Murphy also brought in a group of dancers from Dances by Diane in nearby Westville. The dancers performed the well-known Thriller dance by Michael Jackson for the kids while they were getting their make-up done. While it was a bit complicated for anyone to learn on one try, many of the kids enjoyed watching the performance and some were interested in learning the dance themselves in the future.

After everyone was made up, the kids took off for the library floor, doing a zombie walk throughout the building. Some of them hid behind bookshelves and crept around corners in an attempt to scare each other. Even some of the adults sitting in the library couldn't help but smile at the junior zombies.

The event was ultimately extremely popular with all those who attended. Murphy hopes that Teen Zombie Night becomes an annual event at the library, with even more kids coming out to join in the zombie fun next year.

Going as a zombie for Halloween this year? Whatever your costume, you could .

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