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Santa Ana Day of the Dead Ciclovia event set for Nov. 8

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Day of the Dead Ciclovia

City of Santa Ana

Community Alert: Second Annual Open Street Event – SOMOS in Santa Ana / Segundo Evento Anual de Calles Abiertas – SOMOS en Santa Ana

Second Annual Open Street Event – Ciclovia in Santa Ana: Celebrating the Day of the Dead

The City of Santa Ana is proud to host its second annual Ciclovia – an open streets event where the streets will be closed to cars and opened to bikers, walkers and runners. SOMOS or “Sunday On Main Open Streets” is scheduled for Sunday, November 8, 2015 from 9 am to 2 pm.

In celebration of Día de los Muertos, the event will feature decorations associated with this annual cultural festivity. The public is encouraged to come dressed in the spirit of the Day of the Dead celebration and decorate their bikes, skateboards or strollers! Share with the community that you honor the spirits and value alternative, safe and fun transportation by participating in this automobile-free event. All walkers, runners, and bikers are welcome to have fun and connect with others in a fun and fit way. Continue reading→

Dia de los Muertos event at Fairhaven Memorial Park set for Nov. 2

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Dia de los Muertos at Fairhaven

Dia de los Muertos at Fairhaven

Fairhaven’s annual Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) event, on Monday, November 2 at 6 p.m., keeps century-old tradition alive by combining ceremony and a celebration of life to commemorate lost loved ones.

At 6 p.m., a traditional memorial service officiated by Deacon Jerry De Santos and Deacon Luis Gallardo will take place followed by spirited entertainment and complimentary refreshments from El Indio Tortilleria. Continue reading→

Santa Ana’s Dia De Los Muertos Festival set for Nov. 1 at the Train Station

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Viva La Vida

The 1st Annual Viva La Vida Day of the Dead Festival is steam rolling its way into Santa Ana. Sun. Nov. 1, 2015, at the Santa Ana Train Station, from 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Held in the heart of Orange County, Santa Ana’s Dia De Los Muertos Festival “Viva La Vida” captures the very essence of our cultural and artistic spirit. Organized by community members, the purpose of the celebration is to honor ancient traditions of the festival through art, culture, and compassion. Continue reading→

Dia de Los Muertos event being hosted by Fairhaven Memorial Park this afternoon

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Dia de los muertos at Fairhaven

Fairhaven Memorial Park to Host Third Annual Dia de los Muertos Celebration 

Hundreds gather at free event on Sunday, Nov. 2 to remember friends and family members

Orange County residents will gather at Fairhaven Memorial Park & Mortuary for its annual Dia de los Muertos celebration, a family-friendly event to honor the lives of those who have passed. A vibrant memorial service, featuring a traditional offertory, music and art, will be held to pray for and remember the lives of friends and family members. Attendees are encouraged to bring a photo of their loved ones to place at the colorful altars. Complimentary pan de muerto and chocolate will be provided by El Indio Tortilleria, Inc.

Believed to be one of the few days a year when loved ones who have passed return to visit, Dia de los Muertos – also known as Day of the Dead – is celebrated annually on Nov. 2. Traditionally, loved ones create altars that include food, flowers, photos and articles that belonged to, or had special meaning, to the deceased. Continue reading→

Noche de Altares, marking the Day of the Dead, set for today in DTSA through 10 pm

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Noche de Altares

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday observed throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died, according to Wikipedia.

The Day of the Dead will be celebrated in Santa Ana with the annual Noche de Altares (Night of Altars) hosted by El Centro Cultural de Mexico, at 4th and Birch Streets, in Downtown Santa Ana, on November 1st, from 1- 10 pm. Continue reading→

Poll: Are hipsters turning Dia de Los Muertos into another drinking holiday?

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Picture Courtesy of the Santa Ana Sentinel

Picture Courtesy of the Santa Ana Sentinel

In its 11th year, Noche de Altares (Night of the Altars), was expected to draw tens of thousands over nine hours with its entertainment stages, community-based vendors and more than 100 ofrendas (altars) dedicated to the memory of the deceased, according to the O.C. Register.

The event, which was held yesterday, “has become more commercialized, it is now a combination of an art exhibit and street fair,” according to the Santa Ana Sentinel, which also reported that “El día de los muertos was very much the theme of the night at the Santora where just about all of the galleries displayed artwork, photography, even clothing influenced by the day of the dead theme.”

But friends tell me that while they enjoyed the event, they also started to see major signs that hipsters are trying to turn this special cultural event into yet another Mexican drinking holiday, like Cinco de Mayo.  The OC Weekly saw this coming, running a Do’s and Don’ts article before the Noche de Altares event.  Here are a few excerpts from that article: Continue reading→

Santa Ana Noche de Altares update including entertainment schedule

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The 11th Annual Noche de Altares (Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos) event is set for Saturday, November 2, 2013, from 1 to 10 pm, at 4th and Birch Streets, in Santa Ana.  Click here for Facebook updates.

This event is free to the public. The event includes: Continue reading→

The Downtown Santa Ana Art Walk is set for this Saturday, 11/3

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The Downtown Santa Ana Art Walk is set for this Saturday night, Nov. 3rd, featuring “Noche de Altares.”

Event highlights:

  • GCS Art Gallery: The Day of the Dead themed art show features new works by many artists familiar to the GCS gallery. the list of artists include: ASEPH, 3rdI, Benjie, Nick Lu, AWOL, Alex barcenas, tim shelton, jamie johnson, calvyrus, ray vargas, spr fkr, dino perez, zack bowen, freddie medina, AKIL, tristan cruz, tyoni aragon, rebornz, rask, ar, charlie inkbomber, kasey mahoney, pavel acevedo, jouvon michael, eli martinez, kitty brown, EGADS, BOISE, RABET, david flores, dice, kenos, zane, glory, jroz, meezy perez, michael ziobrowski and a few more surprises….!DJ’s playing music from dead artists all night long. Continue reading→

Dia de Los Muertos event set for 11/2 at Fairhaven Memorial Park & Mortuary

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Media Contact: Cynthia Adair, 714.633.1442, cadair@fairhavenmemorial.com

FAIRHAVEN MEMORIAL PARK’S

“Dia de los Muertos”

Santa Ana, CA — Fairhaven Memorial Park & Mortuary will host its Dia de los Muertos Service at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 2nd at the North Gardens Pavillion in Fairhaven Memorial Park.

Dia de los Muertos (or Day of the Dead) is a celebration of the lives of those who have passed, honoring the dead with art, music, altars, and plenty of smiles and is held on November 2, when tradition says the souls of departed loved ones return to partake of the offerings (flowers, candles, food and drink) set out for them on ofrendas by families and friends. The Day of the Dead is considered a day of celebration, instead of mourning. Continue reading→

9th Annual Dia de los Muertos event drew thousands to downtown Santa Ana

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Thousands of people gathered downtown Saturday afternoon for an annual Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead celebration that has mushroomed in size over the past nine years, according to the O.C. Register.

The event was masterminded by Jackie and Rudy Cordova, owners of Calacas and the new Calacas Cafe.  This was the Ninth Annual Noche de Altares event.  Check out Calacas’ Facebook page for pictures of yesterday’s event.

In related news, Belinda De La Libertad has started a new website called “Altares Por Siempre” which will gather pictures of Day of the Dead altars, to forever commemorate the dearly departed. Continue reading→

Occupy the Santa Ana Art Walk – and Dia de Los Muertos too, on Saturday

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This Saturday’s Santa Ana Art Walk, on Nov. 5, might be the biggest one ever.  Not only does it coincide with the 9th Annual Noche de Altares (Dia de Los Muertos/Day of the Dead) event, we are also going to see the Occupy Santa Ana movement conduct a protest at 1:00 in front of the Bank of American on 4th and Main, for Move your Money Out Day.  (B of A announced today that they are cancelling their monthly debit card fee increase, so perhaps folks won’t be moving their money out after all).

The Occupiers are then  having a march from 6:30 to 8 through Downtown Santa Ana, where the Day of the Dead Altars will be set up, and then on to the Artists Village.  They will end the march at the Santora Building, at the Studio del Sotano, with a Sangria party. Continue reading→

Celebrate Dia de los Muertos in Santa Ana on Nov. 5

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UPDATE: Click here for pictures and a recap of the 2011 Noche de Altares (Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos).

For the 9th year in a row, Centro Cultural de México is organizing Noche de Altares (A Night of Altars/Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos) on Saturday, Nov. 5. This year Centro is proud to present this free event in partnership with Calacas Inc., a Santa Ana business that promotes art and culture through products made by indigenous people living in México and local artisans living in Southern California.

Noche de Altares is a community-based event celebrating Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), one of México’s oldest, indigenous festivals. Organized by volunteers, the purpose of the celebration is to honor the ancient traditions of the festival and bring community members together through art, culture, and compassion. Continue reading→

Calacas to screen premier of “Noche de Altares” documentary tonight

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Calacas is hosting a “Dia de los Muertos” art exhibit starting tonight, Oct. 1, from 7 to 10 pm.  Calacas is located at 324 W. 4th St., in downtown Santa Ana.  They are at 4th and Birch, in the West End Theater. Continue reading→

A look at our most popular blog posts about Santa Ana, in 2010

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The year is almost over, which means it is time to take a look at our top posts this year.

  • This was the year the Dia de los Muertos/Noche de Altares event blew up.  Our post about the 7th annual event got 1,292 views!  It was our top post this year.  Our post about this year’s event also got over 1,000 visits.
  • The tragic death of a young man from Irvine, in a shooting in the downtown area, prompted us to write a post about how the downtown area of Santa Ana is actually pretty safe.  That post got over one thousand visits!
  • Our post about former SAUSD Trustee Nadia Davis’ campaign for a County Supervisorial seat, in Alameda County, also got over 1,000 visits.
  • When ICE raided our fellow Santa Ana residents, we wrote about it – and that post also got over 1,000 visits.
  • And our post about the Silk Road exhibit at the Bowers Museum got 964 visits.
  • Our post about this year’s November election results also got over 900 visits.
  • A post we wrote about an event at El Centro Cultural de Mexico, about the Fall of Tenochtitlan, got over 800 visits.
  • A post we wrote about the lurkers at Park Santiago also got over 800 visits.
  • We also wrote about Eccopac’s June primary endorsements – and that post got over 700 visits.
  • And my post proposing a dog park in Santa Ana got well over 600 visits.

We had 15 posts that merited over 500 visits.  Whew!  What a year.

In fact, we had just over 3,000 visits last December.  This month we broke our readership record with over 16,000 visits and just under 30,000 page views.  Thank you to all our readers for making the New Santa Ana blog the TOP civic blog in Santa Ana.  I assure you all that next year will be even better!

Here is a look at our past year of visits and page views:

Dia de Los Muertos event draws thousands to Santa Ana’s downtown

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My wife and my little boy joined me tonight at Santa Ana’s 8th Annual Noche de Altares, commemorating Dia de Los Muertos.  The event took place on 4th St., between Ross and Broadway.  It coincided with tonight’s Art Walk, which made for a huge crowd and a lot of fun.

Families took the time to put together the Altares, or Altars, which are a way to remember their departed loved ones.  Each one told a different story.  The Altares were amazing.  Many of them included photos and portraits, and all sorts of objects which were reminiscent of the departed.

There was a huge crowd of people waiting patiently for food, and listening to live music.  Many vendors displayed their wares all along 4th St.

I ran into a lot of friends, including Vicky Baxter of Downtown Inc.; Patrick Yrarrazaval, a Santa Ana Planning Commissioner; Zeke Hernandez, an activist in the local Democratic Party; Daniella Southgate, the Marketing Director at MacArthur Plaza, and many more.

We also stopped by the Santora Building, and visited El Sotano, which is Matt Southgate’s gallery.  He set up an Altare commemorating Johnny Cash, which we really liked.

There was also a haunted gallery at the Santora.

Outside, at the Promenade next to the CSUF Grand Central Art Center, another crowd had convened to watch a bunch of Christian break-dancers, which was pretty weird, but they were quite good.

If you missed out, be sure to check out the photos in the slideshow atop this post.

Kudos to all who were involved in planning this great event, particularly my friends at Calacas!

I should note that there was a significant police and security presence, but everyone behaved and we all felt quite safe.

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