As the scent of marigolds fills the air, Boulder's Día de los Muertos celebration is in full swing, offering a chance for the community to honor the dearly departed with a tapestry of altars and processions. Boulder residents can explore a variety of public altars throughout the city, each meticulously adorned with traditional decorations and designed to invite the spirits of past leaders and activists for a visit from the afterlife. According to the City of Boulder, these include an altar in the Penfield Tate II Municipal Building paying homage to significant figures such as Penfield Tate, Boulder's first and only Black mayor, and LGBTQIA+ advocate, and Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

City staff members and community organizations, including El Centro AMISTAD, Growing Gardens, and Boulder Housing Partners, have set up altars in locations as varied as community centers and public libraries. The offerings on these altars range from the personal favorites of individuals being honored, to iconic Sugar skulls and vivid papel picado. Visitors are encouraged to participate in an altar tour, ruta de altar, and catrina y catrines procession held on Nov. 2, which promises to transform Pearl Street into a vibrant procession of traditional attire and communal remembrance.

Among portraits of historical change-makers, you will find geniuses like Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales of the Chicano Movement, labor leader Cesar Chavez, and civil rights titan Harvey Milk, highlighting their indispensable contributions to advocacy and social justice. Furthermore, the Tate altar features trailblazers like Joanne Marie Conte, the first openly transgender person elected to city council in the United States, and Thurgood Marshall, a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement and the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.