Riverside's Day of the Dead festival will spread onto Main Street this year, and hometown ska-punk band Voodoo Glow Skulls will headline Saturday on a stage in front of the historic courthouse.
The free festival runs Saturday, Nov. 7, starting at 1 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 8, starting at 11 a.m., Downtown. Organizers will close Main Street from 10th to 12th streets and move lucha libre wrestling to its own space at 12th and Main. More than 40 acts will perform on four stages over the two days.
The Marigold Stage, the festival's main stage, sits at Market Street and University Avenue in front of White Park. The Calaca Stage is at 14th and Market streets. On Main Street, the Detour Stage sits at the historic courthouse, and the Más Dead Stage is at City Hall at 10th and Main streets.
Voodoo Glow Skulls are local heroes. Brothers Frank, Eddie and Jorge Casillas form the core of the band, and their Mexican American identity has shaped its lyrics and image. The band has used Día de los Muertos imagery since the 1990s. The brothers went to Norte Vista High School with festival organizer Cosme Cordova. Voodoo Glow Skulls tour internationally and just wrapped up a tour of Japan, opening for Less Than Jake in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.
Cordova, of Division 9 Gallery, started the festival with a couple of pop-up canopies in the parking lot shared by Back to the Grind and The Menagerie. He said its footprint is now one of the largest in Southern California, and about 50,000 people attended last year. The festival has grown by word of mouth, with little advertising, and stays alcohol-free.
"It's family friendly and no alcohol, and that's something that I believe in," Cordova said.
He said his goal is to eventually close Main Street "all the way to 14th," which he expects will take a couple of years. The festival will mark its 25th anniversary in 2029, when Cordova plans to bring in Quitapenas and some of the other acts that have grown with the festival as featured performers.
The festival offers a range of experiences, from the reverence of the ofrendas in White Park to food vendors, lucha libre and the revelry of a punk show on the courthouse steps.
Día de los Muertos is celebrated across Latin America, and celebrations are growing more popular in the United States. The sugar skull and Catrina aesthetic has become ubiquitous, and what was once niche is now on department store shelves. The holiday falls during spooky season and right after Halloween, but the tone is different. Día de los Muertos is a time set aside to remember family members who have died.
"My favorite aspect would be just getting together with your family and getting to commemorate somebody and acknowledging that death isn't always so negative," said Ariana Alvarez Cordova, the festival's senior project manager and Cordova's niece.
While there will be partying and dancing on Market and Main streets, White Park will be a place of reverence. Cordova named it the Jardín de los Altares this year. About 80 families will set up ofrendas there in tribute to lost loved ones. Visitors who have not built an altar can add names to a community altar.
"That's the foundation of the actual event," Cordova said.
He encourages visitors to share a story, a joke or a favorite meal of someone they lost.
"It doesn't necessarily have to be a physical altar, but just bringing somebody to memory," he said. "It's just a day to remember them."
The music ranges from funk and R&B to traditional Latin styles and ska-punk, reflecting the diversity of the Latino and Indigenous diaspora in Southern California. Voodoo Glow Skulls top a Saturday bill that includes Red Store Bums, Crystal and the Sassy Cats, Cherry Bomb Revival, Dolores y Su Conjunto and Thee Midnite Cruzzers. El Conjunto Nueva Ola, Milpa, Las Tias and Open Late lead Sunday. On the Más Dead Stage, Bipolarte, Deladeso, VCR Monster, The Good Daze and Señor Jaguar play Saturday, and Cold Cut, Encounter 909 and Moody 909 play Sunday.
More information: Saturday, Nov. 7, 1-10 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 8, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Admission is free. Parking is free on weekends at Downtown street meters and in city lots.
