Hemisfair is gearing up for the 14th annual Muertos Fest, a free three-day Día de los Muertos celebration that has grown into San Antonio's premier and longest-running event of its kind. The festival will fill the downtown park with food, musical performances on the main stage, workshops, and more than 80 altars honoring loved ones.
According to CultureMap San Antonio, the festival features remembrance, art, music, and celebration across five stages, alongside two processions and workshops open to the public. The event's continued growth reflects its standing as one of the largest Day of the Dead celebrations in the United States, a status Muertos Fest has built since its founding. Attendance has climbed sharply in recent years — in 2023 the festival drew an estimated 135,000 visitors to Hemisfair, up from more than 100,000 in 2022, according to KENS 5.
A National Reputation Built Over 14 Years
That growth hasn't gone unnoticed outside San Antonio. National Geographic named Muertos Fest one of the seven best fall festivals in the United States, and USA Today listed it among the ten great Day of the Dead celebrations in the world, per the same KENS 5 report. Organizers expanded the festival's footprint in 2023 into Hemisfair's newly opened seven-acre Civic Park, using its green spaces and 825-foot Promenade to accommodate larger crowds and expanded altar displays, the station's report notes.
This year's lineup includes more than 75 art vendors at the Muertos Mercado, a fashion show featuring Día de los Muertos-inspired looks, and Presente: A Night to Remember, which will offer sensory-friendly hours, according to CultureMap San Antonio. Admission remains free, though organizers note the festival is subject to change because of weather or other concerns.
The People Behind the Programming
Muertos Fest is produced through a collaboration between Hemisfair and Galaxy Productions, with longtime Artistic Director Jim Mendiola guiding the cultural programming and altar curation, according to Hoodline's prior coverage of Galaxy Productions. Mendiola has emphasized opening altar creation to everyday residents rather than limiting the practice to invited fine artists, per that report. Galaxy Productions also produces La Semana Alegre, another Hemisfair mainstay, reflecting the production company's broader role in the venue's cultural calendar.
Past editions of the festival have woven in tributes to influential local musicians. The October 2025 Muertos Fest featured a Friday evening concert honoring late San Antonio conjunto icon Flaco Jiménez, curated by Tejano Conjunto Festival founder Juan Tejeda with Los Texmaniacs serving as the house band, according to CultureMap San Antonio. Jiménez, a multi-Grammy winner who died in July 2025, was widely regarded as a global ambassador for Tejano and conjunto music.
Roots in Chicano Cultural Activism
The public celebration of Día de los Muertos in the United States traces back to the 1970s, when Chicano activists in San Antonio, Los Angeles, and San Francisco began organizing public altar displays that blended traditional Mexican folk customs with Chicano art and political expression, according to the San Antonio Express-News. That history continues to shape conversations around the festival: as large-scale civic celebrations like Muertos Fest generate significant tourism and regional economic impact, local cultural leaders and historians frequently debate the balance between authentic heritage preservation and commercialization.
Muertos Fest has also historically partnered with Inner City Development, a volunteer-led nonprofit that has provided emergency food and community support on San Antonio's West Side for more than 50 years, per the Express-News. The festival sits within a broader constellation of citywide Día de los Muertos programming each fall, including the Day of the Dead River Parade along the River Walk and La Villita's display of the tallest Catrina statue in the nation, as noted by Parade Magazine. This year, the San Antonio Botanical Garden added to that citywide roster with Jardín de las Catrinas, an installation of eight 16-foot skeleton figures built from living plants and discarded materials by artist Regina Moya, as Hoodline previously reported.
Getting Downtown Without the Gridlock
Attendees planning to visit Hemisfair should expect the usual downtown congestion that accompanies major festival weekends. VIA Metropolitan Transit has provided free Park & Ride shuttle services from suburban transit centers during peak festival weekend hours to help ease severe downtown parking shortages and traffic around Hemisfair, according to the Express-News. Full details on this year's schedule, altar submissions, and vendor information are available on the festival's website.
