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Attendees take part in Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade as it makes its way toward Hidalgo Park in Houston, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026 .<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Vivian Silerio, 12, writes a note to her late grandfather alongside members of her family during Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade and festival in Houston on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Vivian Silerio, 12, writes a note to her late grandfather alongside members of her family during Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade and festival in Houston on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Classic cars are parked during Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade and festival near Hidalgo Park in Houston on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia poses for a photo with two attendees dressed as Catrinas during Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade and festival in Houston on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
A danza group performs during Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade and festival in Houston on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Attendees take part in Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade as it makes its way toward Hidalgo Park in Houston, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026 .<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Classic cars take part in Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade as it makes its way toward Hidalgo Park in Houston on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Classic cars take part in Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade as it makes its way toward Hidalgo Park in Houston on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Classic cars take part in Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade as it makes its way toward Hidalgo Park in Houston on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Houston’s\u00a0D\u00eda de los Muertos festivities<\/a> kicked off\u00a0Saturday morning in Hidalgo Park, as\u00a0children sipped agua fresca and lined up to don skeleton face paint.<\/p>\n A week and a day before the holiday itself<\/a>, Magnolia Park hosted the event, with marigold-strewn\u00a0ofrendas, twirling Catrinas,\u00a0a parade and festival.<\/a><\/p>\n But as visitors strolled along Buffalo Bayou, vendors and workers couldn’t help but notice how much emptier the festival felt than in years past.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “When I come at this time, usually you can’t even walk through these walkways, and typically you can’t even find anywhere to sit down,” East End resident Maribel Maldonado said, gesturing to the half-empty benches along the park’s walkways. “This is\u00a0the\u00a0lowest turnout that I’ve seen in years.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: Houston filmmaker Lisa Martinez documents East End history as neighborhood changes<\/a><\/p>\n In 2024, she said, the tents stretched for more than two blocks through the park, past the statue of Mexican independence leader Miguel Hidalgo and onto the adjacent baseball field. On Saturday, the diamond sat undisturbed.<\/p>\n A danza group performs during Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade and festival in Houston on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n Since President Donald Trump returned to office, his administration has ramped up enforcement in Houston<\/a> and across the country. Three months ago, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed\u00a0Lorenzo Salgado Araujo<\/a> outside a barbershop on Canal Street, less than a mile south of the festival grounds.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n MAGNOLIA PARK: Why Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s killing reverberates through Houston’s oldest Mexican American neighborhood<\/a><\/p>\n Salgado had been a friendly fixture of the neighborhood<\/a>. So has the\u00a0festival, which has packed Hidalgo Park<\/a> every October since 2013.<\/p>\n Maldonado \u2014\u00a0who was buying\u00a0a wide-eyed, cartoon-style painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe \u2014\u00a0blamed ICE for the low attendance,\u00a0saying fear of\u00a0the agency had kept residents in their homes, isolated from the holiday. She wasn’t alone in that assessment.\u00a0<\/p>\n The local artist from whom Maldonado bought her painting, Maribel Quintanar, said that in her decade of selling her paintings she had never\u00a0seen the festival so empty.<\/p>\n “I feel like the fear is preventing people from experiencing our Hispanic community, our culture,” Quintanar\u00a0lamented. ” These are hard-working people being hurt. It’s such a shame.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Still, there was a party being thrown on Saturday, with singers belting ranchera music and Ella Langely covers through the speakers. Quintanar was adding purple brush strokes to a\u00a0Frida Kahlo portrait. “Frida was very colorful,” she explained.<\/p>\n Among those milling about was Elizabeth Huerta, who had woken up at 5 a.m. to put on a head-to-toe Catrina outfit, with her face painted white as a skeleton and purple jewels encircling her eyes. Huerta\u00a0said she began work in January on her flowing black dress and a floral hat the size of a large pizza, adorned with skulls.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Huerta is photographed dressed as a Catrina during Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade and festival in Houston on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n “I do it to keep the culture going, especially for the kids,” Huerta\u00a0said. “Children need the visual. They need to see our community, family, friends. That’s what’s important.”<\/p>\n Sitting on his three-wheeled motorcycle, or slingshot, with his daughter, Hernan Rios had also come to the festival to delight children. The vehicle had been wrapped to look like Lightning McQueen \u2014 fire-engine red, with lightning bolt decals to match.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Rios had ridden in the parade, and his ride was drawing a steady stream of attention from admiring children while he chatted. Even as Rios celebrated, he too was preoccupied by federal agents.<\/p>\n “I don’t like what’s happening around Houston, Dallas, around the country, with the ICE,” he\u00a0said. “We prefer bringing joy, you know. We want everybody to come here and enjoy.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Attendees take part in Magnolia Park\u2019s annual D\u00eda de los Muertos parade as it makes its way toward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-475768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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