You want a positive Santa Ana story? Here’s the tale of the Dia de los Muertos event held in the city called Noches de Altares: started in the mid-1990s in the households of Mexican consulate workers, Noche de Altares graduated to the Centro Cultural de Mexico for a couple of years in the early 2000s before moving onto Third Street in the Artists’ Village with the help of the great Chicano store, Calacas. For the past couple of years, it’s expanded to take over the entirety of the Fiesta Marketplace parking lot and transformed from just a couple of altars honoring the dead into a bona fide event with bands, crafters, food, and more. Best of all? This gem of an event has succeeded with no subsidies from Papi Pulido and his cabal.
Sat., Nov. 1, 2 p.m., 2008
