Gloria Molina Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles is once again turning its lawns into an open-air Día de los Muertos exhibition this fall, with a free, all-ages festival built around altars, live music, workshops and a community mercado. The festival is free to attend.
The festival unfolds at Gloria Molina Grand Park, 200 N Grand Ave, according to the park’s own event listing at grandparkla.org. The exhibition will feature more than 16 altars, or ofrendas, created with artists, families and community organizations and displayed throughout the park.
Curation for this year’s installment falls to artist Consuelo G. Flores, per the park’s official page. The theme is “The Power of One — It Starts with One. One Becomes Many.”
2026 Opening Schedule
The kickoff festivities are scheduled for Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
BroadwayWorld separately lists El Río, Mariachi Arcoiris and Grupo Bella among the opening-day performers, along with sugar-skull decorating, face painting, a paper-weaving workshop and a photography portrait session for all ages. The park’s official listing should be checked for any subsequent schedule updates.
Closing Ceremony
The festival’s Noche de los Muertos closing celebration is scheduled for Sunday, November 1, 2026, from 3 to 7 p.m., with Los Negrete Fam and additional guest artists in the program.
The closing celebration will also include a community mercado showcasing local Los Angeles artisans.
New Mentorship Program Joins the Altar Tradition
BroadwayWorld also describes an inaugural mentorship program pairing emerging artists with experienced professionals. Eight mentees will each create a personalized shoebox altar as part of the initiative, according to that announcement.
The festival’s scale has varied across recent editions. Grand Park’s ninth annual Downtown Día de los Muertos ran from October 22 through November 2, 2021, according to LA Dance Chronicle, and featured 20 altars made by professional artists and local community organizations. That earlier edition, held in the 12-acre downtown civic-center park in partnership with Self Help Graphics & Art, included a community altar created by 2018 NEA National Heritage Fellow Ofelia Esparza and a Noche de Ofrenda ceremony on the Performance Lawn.
How the Festival Has Expanded
The event has recently grown in both duration and opening programming. According to Gloria Molina Grand Park, the 2024 opening festivities expanded to two days for the first time in the park’s history, running October 19–20, while that year’s overall celebration lasted 15 days, from October 19 through November 2.
Coverage of the 2026 return, including details on the mentorship program and vendor mercado, was compiled by Secret Los Angeles. Attendees should confirm opening and closing details with Grand Park before finalizing plans.
