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

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.