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Seasonal Roundup · Fall 2026

Día de los Muertos 2026: Day of the Dead Events by Date

Written by the USA Fest Bot team with AI help. · Published · Updated

Rows of bright pink, blue, orange and green cut-paper banners strung across a blue sky
Papel picado banners for Día de los Muertos at Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana, Mexico (not one of the events below). Photo: Thirty two, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is the Mexican holiday on November 1 and 2 when families remember loved ones who have died, with altars, marigolds, music and food. This guide lists 33 Día de los Muertos celebrations in 18 states for 2026, grouped by date, with links to each listing and the organizer’s website. In 2026 the holiday falls on a Sunday and Monday, and many towns celebrate the weekend before. The busiest days are Saturday, October 24, with 11 events, and Sunday, November 1, with 9.

Day of the Dead is not Halloween, and this guide leaves out haunted attractions; for those, see Halloween events. USA Fest Bot doesn’t sell tickets.

Dates can change, so check the event’s website before you go.

Already underway: through November 2

In Dallas, the Celebración del Día de Muertos at Hughes Family Tribute Center runs on selected dates, with art exhibits on weekend afternoons and a closing celebration on the evening of November 2.

Saturday, October 24

Austin’s Viva la Vida Festival and Parade, from Mexic-Arte Museum, is the city’s largest and longest-running Día de los Muertos event and opens with a Grand Procession at noon on Congress Avenue. El Paso fills its Downtown Arts District with a long parade of floats, folklórico dancers and musicians, and Hollywood Forever hosts a celebration from noon to midnight in its historic cemetery, with an altars exhibition and a ceremonial procession. In Lake Elsinore, more than 140 antique cars and lowriders are decorated with altars before a Catrina procession at dusk, and Corpus Christi spreads ofrendas, music and art across 10 downtown blocks until midnight. Denver ends its Civic Center day with a sunset procession around the community ofrenda, and in Phoenix, MIKIZTLI’s procession is led by Las Flacas, 8-foot animated skeleton puppets.

Sunday, October 25

On Olvera Street, merchants have marked the holiday for nearly 40 years with a nine-day festival: each night at 7 p.m. a novenario procession led by Grupo Tartalejos moves through the plaza, after Teatro del Barrio’s Danza de la Muerte at 6. The Oakland Museum of California opens with a procession and holds a special altar, Sanando Corazones (Healing Hearts), for East Bay families who lost someone.

Friday and Saturday, October 30–31

Milwaukee moves inside for an evening at the Mitchell Park Domes, where student ofrendas sit among the glass conservatories, and Moreno Valley invites residents to build ofrendas for its Civic Amphitheater night. At Minneapolis’s Festival de las Calaveras, an Alebrije and Katrina bike procession rolls in from Midtown Global Market to Minnehaha Avenue and Lake Street. Seattle’s festival has been at Seattle Center since 2003, and the Alaska Botanical Garden runs short, hands-on sessions that end with a taste of pan de muerto.

A tiered Día de Muertos altar draped in pink cut paper, set with sugar skulls, skeleton figures and orange marigolds under a garden canopy
A Día de Muertos ofrenda at the Casa de Cultura Jesús Reyes Heroles in Coyoacán, Mexico City (not an event in this guide). Photo: Ines Suarez R., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Sunday, November 1

Houston’s Discovery Green builds a community ofrenda with artist Angel Quesada, holds a Catrin y Catrinas Parade and closes with La Musical Ofrenda, a tribute concert to Houston and Texas musicians. Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery, founded in 1850, holds an afternoon of its own, and Charlotte’s festival brings a parade of Catrinas to Camp North End. In Las Cruces, the downtown plaza serves café de olla and pan dulce, an easy follow-up to El Paso’s parade a week earlier.

After the holiday: November 6–8

Springs Preserve in Las Vegas runs three evenings with an altar contest for $5,000 in cash prizes. Kansas City’s Calaca Night Parade closes the Mattie Rhodes altar exhibit with a march through the Westside, and the next day Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, ends with an evening parade. Cleveland Public Theatre holds its Skulls & Skeletons procession in the afternoon.

Ofrendas, marigolds and Catrinas

The heart of the holiday is the ofrenda, an altar set with photos, candles, favorite foods and orange cempasúchil marigolds to welcome loved ones back. Calaveras, skulls often made of sugar, sit on many altars too. Many of these events build a community ofrenda you can add to: Omaha, Houston, Las Cruces and CLUES in Minneapolis invite you to bring a photo, and the Detroit Riverfront welcomes a name or message.

Look for Catrinas, the elegantly dressed skeleton figures, in contests and parades in San Pedro, Moreno Valley and Omaha, and on the runway at DODFest in Amarillo. Sugar skull decorating is on the schedule in Seattle and Las Vegas, and Danza Azteca and ballet folklórico appear at many of these celebrations.

Close-up of white sugar skulls decorated with pink and blue icing and shiny foil eyes
Calaveras de azúcar, the sugar skulls placed on Día de Muertos altars (not an event in this guide). Photo: J Mndz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Texas, California and Kansas City

Texas and California have 7 events each. In Texas, Los Muertos Bailan in Edinburg opens with Canta y No Llores, a mariachi vocal competition. California’s list includes LumaFest in Petaluma, whose face is Fresno, a giraffe skeleton in the college’s Mahoney Library. Kansas City has 4 events in a week: the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kansas City Automotive Museum in Olathe on November 1, then the Calaca Night Parade and Central Avenue the following Friday and Saturday. For more events in these states, see Texas and California.

Before you go

If you plan to add a photo to a community ofrenda, bring a copy rather than the original; Houston asks for copies because it can’t promise to return them. Dressing up as a Catrina or Catrin is welcome at many events. Hollywood Forever uses entry windows, and museum admission covers the Nelson-Atkins festival, so check those websites ahead of time. In Dallas you’re welcome to bring your own food; food sellers come only on the final day.

To find more events near you, browse parades, fall festivals or this weekend and filter by state or ZIP, or see all states. Missing a Día de los Muertos celebration? Submit a listing.

Quick answers

When is Día de los Muertos in 2026?

November 1 and 2, 2026, a Sunday and a Monday. Many U.S. celebrations in this guide fall on the weekends before and after.

Is Día de los Muertos the same as Halloween?

No. It comes right after Halloween, but it is a separate holiday for remembering and honoring loved ones who have died, centered on the ofrenda.

USA Fest Bot is not affiliated with any event in this guide and does not sell tickets. Found a date that has changed? Send a correction.