Dia de los Muertos in Houston on Sunday: Discovery Green's Ofrenda, MECA's 26th Festival and a Day of Free Celebrations
Downtown's signature celebration runs 3 to 7 p.m. at Discovery Green with a community ofrenda by artist Angel Quesada, while MECA's 26th annual festival, a Heights kids' concert and brewery and museum celebrations fill the day across Houston - most of them free.
HOUSTON - Houston marks Dia de los Muertos all day Sunday, and the center of it is downtown. Discovery Green hosts the city's signature celebration from 3 to 7 p.m., built around a community ofrenda created by Houston artist Angel Quesada. Guests are invited to bring a copy of a photograph or a keepsake to add to it - organizers note the items cannot be returned - and the afternoon continues with a Catrin y Catrinas parade and costume contest, performances, live music, food, crafts and local vendors, closing with La Musical Ofrenda, a tribute concert honoring Houston musicians and legendary artists from across Texas. Admission is free.
The city's longest-running celebration is in the Old Sixth Ward. MECA's 26th annual Dia de Muertos Festival runs Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Historic Dow School, 1900 Kane Street - a free, family celebration of art, community and culture that predates most of the city's other Day of the Dead events by decades.
The rest of the day fills in around those two anchors. Heights Kids' Day of Music holds a free morning celebration at Stomping Grounds on West 34th Street from 10 a.m. to noon, with the Grupo Batacha Latin Band, folklorico dancers and Mariachi Los Tres Gatos. Karbach Brewing hosts a free celebration from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a community altar and trunk-or-treat, a separate free all-ages festival presented by Knights of the Brown Table with the Calmecac Indigenous Organization runs 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with live music and traditional food, and the Children's Museum Houston marks the day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., included in its $22 admission.
Dia de los Muertos, observed at the start of November, is a remembrance holiday on which families honor deceased relatives with ofrendas - altars carrying photographs, marigolds, candles and favorite foods. Houston's version spans the whole map this year, and nearly all of it costs nothing to attend.
