ASBURY PARK – Who said a zombie invasion was a bad thing?

Certainly not the thousands of people who flocked to the city’s boardwalk on Saturday to take part in the 6th Annual New Jersey Zombie Walk, which set a Guinness World Record for largest gathering of zombies.

And certainly not the businesses that were filled with undead patrons or the thousands of spectators who came out to have a front-row seat for the zombie apocalypse.

Steve and Nina Sweeney drove from Red Hill, Pa. with a group of friends to take part in the zombie walk in vintage, “Lucy and Ricky Ricardo-style” costumes.

“We came last year because we’re all zombie fans and had such a good time, we wanted to be here again this year,” Steve Sweeney said.

Thousands of zombies lurched to the Asbury Park beachfront Saturday to take part in the 6th Annual New Jersey Walk, which attempted to set a Guinness World Record for largest gathering of zombies.

Officials from Guinness World Records were in attendance to count the zombies on the boardwalk to see if the New Jersey Zombie Walk could reclaim the world record it held until last November when 8,027 zombies attended a pub crawl in Minnesota.

Thousands of people wearing zombie makeup and tattered clothing were shuffled from the boardwalk to the beach, where they hung out on the sand, played games, danced and even made sandcastles until the count was completed.

Even though thousands of zombies who attended the event elected not to be part of the world record attempt, and another 400 more were initially counted but disqualified after they left the beach, this year's New Jersey Zombie Walk reclaimed the world record with 9,592 zombies.

“It absolutely makes this year more exciting, because we have the chance to be part of something bigger,” Nina Sweeney said.

“I’ve been here before as a spectator, but I decided to dress up this year because it seemed fun and I wanted to help break the world record,” said Cheryl Ashcroft, a preschool teacher from Point Pleasant who was dressed as zombie preschool teacher.

Neptune resident Tim Colberger came dressed as a zombie priest.

"But I'm hardly a priest," joked Colberger, who said he comes to the zombie every year because of the excitement and to check out the creativity of the other zombies. "I'd say the creativity here is a 10 on a scale of 10."

As always, the age range of the zombies participating in the walk – which was part of an extravaganza of zombie-themed events scheduled to run late into the night – spanned from infants to the elderly.

Christy Glab took part in this year’s zombie walk as a zombie pilot. Her date was her 7-year-old son, Aidan Catney, who was dressed as an undead member of a HAZMAT team.

“I picked this costume because it was scary,” said Catney, who came to last year’s walk as a zombie Eli Manning.

Like the hundreds of other families in attendance, the New Jersey Zombie Walk gave the mother and son a different way to enjoy time together.

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“We both love zombies and have a great time coming the walk because it’s fun being out here with all the other people in the costumes,” Glab said. “It’s a really great event for families.”

Jason Meehan, the founder and organizer of the Zombie Walk, told NJ.com last week that officials anticipated more than 20,000 zombies would take part in this year's walk.

“As we approach the one-year anniversary of the storm, what better way to show our resilience than setting a new Guinness World Record on the Asbury Park Boardwalk?” asked Meehan, adding the city’s Chamber of Commerce and the state’s “Stronger than the Storm” campaign helped organize and promote this year’s walk. “We’re going to take it back and set the new number so unbelievable high, that it will stand for the next 10 years.”

Even though that bar was not raised as high as expected, Meehan told the enormous crowd of zombies and spectators that they should be proud of what they accomplished.

"You guys are awesome," he said. "You just showed the world that the Jersey Shore is back and that we are the zombie capital of the world!"