Westwood celebrates Día de los Muertos with 3-day festival
Westwood hosted a three-day festival over the weekend to honor loved ones who have passed and traditions. Morrison Road in Denver had a stage decorated with performers all part of the In Lak'ech Denver Arts a non-profit that provides art education to students in low-income and underserved areas.
Marianna Lucero, the executive director of the non-profit says her students practiced for months.
"It means so much coming back to this community and to be able to give back to the place that raised me... knowing that when I grew up, I didn't have these kinds of opportunities," said Lucero.
The three-day festival is a first of its kind. It is being hosted by a number of organizations including, Hecho en Westwood. Hecho in Westwood is a resource-sharing network of Latinx/BIPOC-owned food-based businesses, artists, and other organizations mostly based in Westwood.
Sarahi Hernandez, one of the organizers of the event, says this event means a lot to the community.
"We've done Dia de los Muertos events in the past, but never at this capacity. We were able to get a grant that let us activate and do this for our community," said Hernandez.
All of it is thanks to a Denver Economic Development and Opportunity grant.
"It is a grant to activate the community, to activate spaces, businesses and you know us being predominately Latino, Mexican, Chicano that presence is really important in this neighborhood," said Hernandez.
To this community, Dia de los Muertos is more than just a holiday. It is tradition.
"This is something that not a lot of people, not a lot of communities get to experience, to see and really have a history rooted ...so I think it is beautiful that this generation wants to preserve it," said Hernandez.
The three-day Muertos en Westwood festival concluded on Sunday, Nov. 5.
The final day of the festival featured modern and traditional interpretations of the holiday. The focus was on the Festival de las Catrinas, giving people the opportunity to participate in several activities. Those activities include flower crown making, face painting, lucha libre and Mariachi music. Sangre de Mexico will end the weekend with a presentation on Catrinas.
