OMCA Día de los Muertos Community Celebration

The Oakland Museum of California spreads a Dia de los Muertos Community Celebration across its campus at 1000 Oak Street, with an opening procession, community ofrendas, handcrafts, dance, music, and an artisanal mercado. A special altar, Sanando Corazones, or Healing Hearts, built by the museum's volunteer committee, sits near the Gallery of California Natural Sciences and is dedicated to East Bay families who lost someone and to people who died in disasters and warfare. The museum, founded in 1969, holds more than 2 million objects on a seven-acre campus. Picnic blankets and low-back chairs are encouraged.

Our take: Take BART to Lake Merritt and walk one block, because the museum expects Alco Park to fill quickly.