The South Valley Marigold Parade Gets Built on Saturdays. There's Still One Left.

The South Valley Día de los Muertos Celebration and Marigold Procession takes place on Sunday, Nov. 1, at Westside Community Center, 1250 Isleta Blvd SW. The season leading up to it started on Sept. 12 and has gone one Saturday at a time ever since. Muertos y Marigolds, the grassroots group behind the event, calls this year its 34th annual parade, celebration, ofrenda exhibit and workshop series. On its own site it lists the workshops alongside the parade as part of the same event, not as a warmup.

As of this Thursday, Oct. 22, six of those Saturdays are done. The seventh and last is this coming Saturday, Oct. 24.

Seven Saturdays, Two Venues

Here is the 2026 workshop schedule as the organizers published it. It moves between the National Hispanic Cultural Center and Gutiérrez-Hubbell House:

1. Sept. 12: Woodblock printing, Gutiérrez-Hubbell House, noon to 3 p.m.
2. Sept. 19: Papier-mâché, part one, National Hispanic Cultural Center, noon to 3 p.m.
3. Sept. 26: Papier-mâché, part two, plus altars, National Hispanic Cultural Center, noon to 3 p.m.
4. Oct. 3: Poetry, as part of the "Ofrendas Comunitarias" exhibit opening, Gutiérrez-Hubbell House, 3 to 5 p.m.
5. Oct. 10: Papel picado, National Hispanic Cultural Center, noon to 3 p.m.
6. Oct. 17: Mosaics, National Hispanic Cultural Center, noon to 3 p.m.
7. Oct. 24: Screen printing, Gutiérrez-Hubbell House, noon to 3 p.m.

Papier-mâché gets two sessions back to back in September, and the poetry workshop doubled as the opening of the community ofrenda exhibit. Printmaking starts the season and ends it.

This Saturday at Gutiérrez-Hubbell House

The last session, screen printing, runs noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, at Gutiérrez-Hubbell House, 6029 Isleta Blvd SW. It's the same place where the season's community ofrendas went up earlier this month.

That opening on Saturday, Oct. 3, was a free afternoon program. It opened the house's annual exhibition and community ofrendas. Muertos y Marigolds gave a blessing, led a guided tour and shared workshop information. Tíos Míos played music, and the Gutiérrez-Hubbell House Alliance served refreshments alongside dancing, face painting and crafts.

If you have only driven past the house on Isleta, it's worth showing up early. It's a 5,700-square-foot adobe from the 1860s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its ten acres include traditional and heritage gardens and trails along the acequia madre. Bernalillo County bought the property in 2000 and runs it as county Open Space. The Gutiérrez-Hubbell House Alliance is a nonprofit that supports the history and cultural center. Museum hours have varied over the years, so check the Alliance's site before you plan a weekday visit to see the ofrendas.

How the Workshops Ended Up at the Center

The workshop season was not always the main event. The procession came first, and the workshops were added later to deepen understanding of the holiday. Then, for a few years, the workshops and exhibit were what kept the tradition going. A Bernalillo County exhibit page from 2021 tells the early history:

• 1993: Sandra and Jorge Rodriguez started Muertos y Marigolds as a small neighborhood procession. They meant it to build community in the South Valley by bringing back Día de los Muertos practices that had faded in New Mexico over the centuries.
• The early years: The Raramuri Center hosted the parade and celebration.
• The next two decades or so: The event lived at West Side Community Center for nearly 20 years.
• After the 2018 parade: The committee put the celebration on hold to regroup and focus on programming that teaches the traditional arts and practices of the holiday.
• 2021: The committee partnered with Gutiérrez-Hubbell House and other community centers to create the Ofrendas Comunitarias exhibit as part of a renewed vision for the event.

The procession was back by 2024, at a different spot farther down Isleta. That November, the Albuquerque Journal previewed the celebration at Rio Bravo County Park, 3912 Isleta Blvd SW, for Sunday, Nov. 3. KOB reported afterward that families gathered at Rio Bravo Park to remember loved ones, and that weather pushed the parade back a little.

In 2025 the celebration returned to Westside Community Center. KRQE's event listing put it there on Nov. 2, from noon to 4 p.m. This year's event is at the same address. After the pause, the move to Rio Bravo and the return, the parade is back at the building where it spent most of its history.

What the Procession Carries Onto Isleta

The Journal's 2024 photos show what came down Isleta Boulevard that year: giant puppets, a float, painted faces and candy for spectators.

Xavier Avila, the event's project director, told the Albuquerque Journal that Muertos y Marigolds is a Chicano arts organization focused on Albuquerque artists, and on South Valley artists in particular. He said its long history and community control set it apart from the other Día de los Muertos events around the state:

"We were really focused on using our cultural narrative to facilitate political conversation and to encourage our community to interact with their culture in a thoughtful way to be able to see themselves within the historical context."

He also told the Journal the group is "very happy (about) this event being by the South Valley for the South Valley, so we're not trying to compete with anybody else."

That idea links the parade to the Saturdays before it. The 2024 celebration included an art market where Latino artists showed and sold their work. Avila said some of the artists in those booths are the same people the group brings in to lead its workshop season. Local nonprofits, harm-reduction organizations and mutual aid groups were there to share local resources, and food trucks were on site. A car club exhibit was there too, which Avila called "a relatively modern aspect of Chicano culture and something we always try to include." He also asked visitors to respect the tradition and the history behind the holiday.

The organizers' mission statement puts it in four parts: cultural self-determination, a stronger community, learning across generations through art, music, food, dance and political satire, and pride in South Valley identity built through grassroots, non-corporate organizing.

Sunday, Nov. 1, at 1250 Isleta Blvd SW

The organizers' 2026 listing gives the essentials:

The parade time is the one detail to double-check. Last year's KRQE listing put the 2025 procession at 2 p.m., two hours into the celebration. This year's site lists it at noon. Before you set out, check the group's Instagram or Facebook for the start time and any route details, since the organizers haven't published a route map on their site.

A Season That Runs on About $12,000

The workshops tie back to one practical fact. Muertos y Marigolds says the full series of workshops and events costs about $12,000 a year in materials, artists, rentals, equipment and staff. Bernalillo County and some community organizations provide in-kind support. The organizers say that kind of help has shrunk in recent years because of budget cuts by state government and other agencies, so they depend more on donations of time and money. In mid-October, the donation tracker on the group's site showed $1,202 raised toward a $7,000 goal, or 17%.

With less outside help, the Saturday sessions and the people who show up for them carry more of the work of keeping a tradition that started in 1993. Screen printing starts at noon on Oct. 24 at 6029 Isleta Blvd SW, and the procession steps off from Westside Community Center eight days later.

Neighborhood traditions like this one are a big part of how April Rodas comes to know Albuquerque, and she loves talking with neighbors about them. If you're new to the South Valley or thinking about where your next chapter in the city might be, April Rodas would be glad to hear from you. Schedule your free consultation.