Saturday’s Day of the Dead event started off slowly. Instead of a Mexican children’s choir, a DJ occupied the gazebo in Esplanade Park, playing a mix of American and Latin pop music, some of it quite old. (Nothing takes you out of the spirit of the holiday like “The Monster Mash.”) Families filled the park, few of them in costume. Though a long line stretched in front of the face-painting tent. And more Spanish was spoken than in previous years.
Around 6 pm things started to gel. A man came on stage and credited Jim Hammond with creating the event. (Hammond, a professional puppeteer, was not involved this year.) And more people appeared in elaborate costumes, including a wedding party in flowery dress, a group of women in black who resembled The Furies, and the Grim Reaper. One man, his face painted in a skeletal grimace, wore a matador’s suit of lights. They all joined the procession that headed down SW 2nd Street, then turned south along the railroad tracks, before turning again when it reached the river. There were fewer puppets than in the past, but the air of macabre creativity, lavish solemnity was as sublime as ever.
