Oakland Police Officer Jorge Pereda was surprised with the huge turnout. “We were expecting about 25,000 but it looks like way more than that,” he said. Pereda said police and festival organizers had a hard time estimating crowd turnout because of the recent recession.
Oakland police were positioned throughout the festival which spanned from the courtyard of the Fruitvale Transit Village down E.12th Street, International Avenue, and into the BART parking lot. “We’re here to make sure everything runs smooth, stays family oriented and so far things look good,” said Officer Pereda. The police even brought out a vintage police cruiser for display.
Having covered the Dia De Los Muertos festival for four years Pereda looks forward to the event. “It gets you out of patrolling, doing something different, not at all stressful. It’s like a day off without your family,” he said.
Eztli Chicahua, an east Oakland dance group performed multiple times throughout the festival in traditional Aztec attire including feather headdresses, painted faces, and ankle rattles. Many of their dances represented prayers to the dead.
Large crowds surrounded the City of Oakland Office of Parks and Recreation who set up bumper style sumo wrestling, allowing children to bump each other around a boxing ring using large inflatable bumper rings. The Parks and Recreation Office also oversaw a children’s jump house, a giant chess board, oversized checkers and dominos to encourage recreating a better oakland and playing with a purpose.
A large part of the festival was the multiple altars to the dead, including an altar dedicated to all of Oakland’s homicide victims from 2009. Vendor booths lined International Boulevard selling jewelry, flowers, food, face painting, sculptures, and t-shirts ordained with skeletons or decorated sugar skulls. Booths were set up by the Alameda County Library, Spanish radio stations, Univision T.V., Monster energy drink, and local travel agencies. The Oakland Museum hosted a craft booth where children could make their own day of the dead mask.
Calaveras de Azucar sold traditional hand-made and decorated sugar skulls of various sizes and colors. “No one is the same,” said Michelle Ortiz who runs the business with her family, making each skull by hand. The Ortiz sisters learned to make sugar skulls from their mother and grandmother.
Sugar skulls are a popular tradition of Day of the Dead. “It’s a Mexican tradition for Day of the Dead to commemorate the dead,” Ortiz said. “We put the names of the person who died on them.”
New this year to the ever growing Fruitvale Dia De Los Muertos Festival was Mexico by Hand. “I’ve heard about Fruitvale before,” said owner Peggy Stein. “We decided to come here this year but before we were at the Oakland Museum.” After living in Michoacan Mexico while filming a documentary for the government run folk art center Stein and co-owner Doug Wheeler were asked by local artists to help bring their art to the United States, which caused them to start Mexican by Hand and sell handmade Mexican crafts and folk art. “We’re trying to support their work up here,” Stein said.
County fair style children’s rides filled a section of the BART parking lot along with a stage showcasing various Mexican musical acts.
The festival is known to be the largest Dia De Los Muertos celebration in the Bay Area. The Oakland Tribune reports that Congresswoman Barbara Lee entered the event into the Library of Congress officially making it a historical event for Oakland.
History on the tradition of Dia De Los Muertos can be found through the Fruitvale Unity Council, who helped organize the Fruitvale festival.
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