Zombies, gore and costume fun rock downtown Elgin

With millions of hypothetical zombies and a couple dozen too-real Los Angeles Dodgers threatening the civilized world, costumed visitors descended on downtown Elgin for the sixth Nightmare on Chicago Street music, food and horror fest Saturday night.

As thousands checked into the six blocks officially described as "the Safe Zone," electronic signs warned that no infected people would be admitted. People infected by the dread undead-zombie syndrome, that is.

But that didn't stop the incoming crowd from coming dressed as everything from a milk carton (complete with nutritional information) to a man who has been flayed alive, from an angel with white wings to a woman whose T-shirt read "Bigger Than Satan."

Dawn Hartney, a 56-year-old Elgin X-ray technician, came dressed in steam punk fashion - think "H.G. Wells-style time travel" - complete with goggles, a bugle and a spyglass that can see the future.

Once inside, the festgoers could fill their bellies with Martini Room cocktails, Beef Villa Italian beef, Kay's funnel cakes, Mama Lee's popcorn and a whole cavalcade of Mexican foods. Next to where Elgin Public House workers poured craft beers, a 2-year-old girl petted a cat at the end of a fake M.D.'s leash - a cat that, by the way, consisted solely of a bony skeleton.

Not far away in one direction, a Doors tribute band - one of seven recreating the sounds of dead musical icons - played "Love Me Two Times." In the other direction, in the window of the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce office, a man dressed as a surgeon carved up a fake patient into small, very gory parts.

But no gorier than the mangled corpses that could be seen in and under several wrecked cars.

Barb Keselica, Elgin's special events manager, expected this year's Nightmare to draw 16,000 people, up from 14,000 last year. The weather cooperated, with no rain and temperatures in the 50s.

But more than a few of the festgoers seemed as concerned about what was going on in real life at Wrigley Field as with what was going on in the fictional zombie war in downtown Elgin. With many festgoers checking their cellphones and restaurants along the Zone having multiple TV sets tuned to the Cubs, everyone could still tell when something big happened by the shouting of the crowd.

City officials describe Nightmare on Chicago Street as "Elgin's signature event of the year" for attracting visitors from all over Northern Illinois. But for people in search of a Halloween-style event that's a bit more family-friendly, a new one called Art Harvest will be held along DuPage Court in downtown Elgin from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday. That will feature kids activities, trick or treating at downtown businesses, and a scavenger hunt for "public art" pieces.