Día de los Muertos in Palo Alto

In late October, marigolds start to appear in Palo Alto in places you might not expect: on a library craft table, in the folded paper flowers a child brings home from storytime, on a community altar at the Art Center. They mark Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday that honors family members who have died. It is a day of remembering rather than mourning, with altars, food, music and visits with relatives.

Palo Alto does not stage a large festival for the holiday. Instead, the city library, the Palo Alto Art Center and nearby groups hold smaller events in the weeks around November 1 and 2. This guide explains the holiday, lists the local events we could confirm and points to bigger celebrations in the region. In 2026 the days fall on Sunday and Monday, November 1 and 2. For the night before, see our Halloween guide.

What Día de los Muertos is

Día de los Muertos is observed in Mexico and by Mexican and Mexican American communities around the world. Families believe the spirits of the dead return to visit during these days, so they prepare a welcome. The holiday blends Indigenous traditions with the Catholic feasts of All Saints' Day on November 1 and All Souls' Day on November 2. In many places November 1 is set aside for children who have died and November 2 for adults. In 2008 UNESCO added the Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead in Mexico to its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

The mood surprises people who know it only from its skeleton imagery. It is warm and often funny. Calaveras, the skulls and skeletons, are drawn smiling and dressed up. Families tell stories about the people they are remembering, cook their favorite dishes and spend time together at the cemetery.

Symbols you will see

• Ofrendas. Altars with photos of the dead, candles and offerings.
• Cempasúchil. Orange and yellow marigolds whose color and scent are said to guide the spirits home.
• Pan de muerto. A sweet bread decorated with dough shaped like bones.
• Sugar skulls. Decorated skulls of sugar, often with a name written on the forehead.
• Papel picado. Tissue paper cut into lacy banners.
• Face painting. Skull makeup, often in the style of La Catrina, the elegant skeleton lady.

Dates for 2026 and 2027

Public events in Palo Alto usually fall in the last two weeks of October and the first week of November, often on a weekend near the holiday. Specific 2027 event dates had not been posted on October 31, 2026. Check the city calendar and the library's events listings from early October.

Library events

The Palo Alto City Library has made Día de los Muertos part of its fall calendar. Two events were on the 2026 schedule:

• Day of the Dead Makeup Tutorial. Tuesday, October 20, 2026, from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Midtown Room at Mitchell Park Library, 3700 Middlefield Road. Bay Area multicultural arts educator Rachel-Anne Palacios taught simple makeup techniques for yourself or a partner. Supplies were provided, entry was free and registration was required. Guests were asked to arrive with a clean face.
• Bilingual Family Storytime. The weekly Spanish and English storytime at College Terrace Library, held Thursdays at 10:30 a.m., was billed as a Día de los Muertos celebration on October 29, 2026.

Library programs are free. Some need registration through the library's online events calendar, so sign up early for hands-on workshops with limited supplies. Our storytime guide covers the regular schedule and our Mitchell Park Library guide covers the building.

Palo Alto Art Center Family Day

The Palo Alto Art Center runs free Family Days through the year. In 2023 it dedicated its November edition to Día de los Muertos. That event, the most recent one we found listed on the city's site, was held on Sunday, November 5, 2023, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. It included art projects led by the Art Center's teaching artists: clay alebrijes, marigold flower crowns and felt sugar skulls. A community altar was created by local artist Virginia Gutiérrez Porter. The library and the nonprofit Fresh Approach ran booths and the library led a Día de los Muertos story time. The afternoon ended with folklórico dance by Raíces de México and Ensamble Folclórico Colibrí.

We could not confirm a Día de los Muertos Family Day at the Art Center in 2024, 2025 or 2026. Check the Art Center's events page in October before you plan around it.

Celebrations nearby

For larger gatherings, look beyond the city limits.

• Cooley Landing, East Palo Alto. Grassroots Ecology, the habitat restoration nonprofit, listed a Día de los Muertos event at Cooley Landing on November 7, 2026. The park sits at the end of Bay Road on the edge of the bay. Check the group's calendar for times and registration.
• San Jose and San Francisco. Both cities hold bigger community celebrations each year, with altars, processions and music. Palo Alto Online publishes a roundup of Midpeninsula and Silicon Valley events in late October, including in 2024 and 2026.

Schools and churches in the area also build altars and hold their own observances. Those are usually for their own communities, so follow their lead on whether visitors are welcome.

Marking the day at home

You do not need an event to take part. Many families build a small ofrenda on a shelf or table. Start with a cloth, add photos of the people you want to remember, then candles, marigolds and a few of their favorite things: a snack, a drink, a book or a song on a phone. Marigolds are easy to find at nurseries and market stalls in late October. Both of Palo Alto's farmers markets run every weekend of the year. Our farmers markets guide has the hours.

Food is central to the holiday. Look for pan de muerto at Mexican bakeries in the weeks before November 2 and cook a favorite family dish. Our guide to Mexican and Latin American food lists restaurants and markets in and around Palo Alto.

Getting to the events

Mitchell Park Library is on Middlefield Road in south Palo Alto, with a parking lot off Middlefield that it shares with the community center. College Terrace Library, at 2300 Wellesley Street, is the oldest branch library building in the city. It sits in the College Terrace neighborhood near Stanford, with street parking on the surrounding blocks. The Art Center is at 1313 Newell Road, a little over a mile from Palo Alto station. California Avenue station is the closest Caltrain stop to College Terrace and a bike or bus ride from Mitchell Park. Cooley Landing is easiest by car or bike from Palo Alto.

If you are visiting for the first week of November, the weather is usually mild, with cool evenings and a chance of the season's first rain. You can browse Bay Area cultural tours for the rest of your stay.

Frequently asked questions