Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival returns this weekend with a full day of events Saturday, plus more on Friday and Sunday. The festival is a favorite of locals and visitors, sparked by the Mexican tradition of remembering friends and family who have passed.
In Denton, the festival has morphed into one of the biggest events of the year to come together for culture and with community to pay homage to the many wonderful things the fall has to offer: the goodness of the harvest, the Día de los Muertos holiday and all things Halloween.
The festivities kick off Friday with the Pinebox Derby at the UNT CoLab. Participants bring their derby cars to race head-to-head with the competition. A $30 entrance fee gets participants a kit to build their car and a T-shirt for the race.
Friday is also opening night of Cirque du Horror, an original family-friendly Halloween musical that’s become a Denton tradition. The show takes place in a big circus tent on Oak Street, and it runs through the weekend, with showtimes at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Saturday and 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are required and run from $12 to $45.
The festival gets into full swing on Saturday, with three stages and a day’s worth of events, activities and performances with free admission.
Schedule and more: Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival
What: A free multicultural festival for families that celebrates the hallmarks of autumn in the American Southwest — the harvest, Halloween and Día de los Muertos
When: The main festival is 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. Select events are on Friday and Sunday.
Where: Austin, Industrial, East Hickory and East Oak streets in downtown Denton
Details: Games and activities in the Pumpkin Patch, vendors, live music, Coffin Races, Twilight Lantern & Costume Parade. Admission is free; however, tickets are required for Cirque du Horror. For more information, visit www.dentondayofthedeadfestival.com.
FRIDAY, OCT. 25
5 p.m. — Pinebox derby registration
6 p.m. — Pinebox derby at UNT CoLab, 207 N. Elm St.
7:30 p.m. — Cirque du Horror at the Big Top Circus Tent, at 126 E. Oak St. across from Miss Angeline's
SATURDAY, OCT. 26
11 a.m. — Festival opens
11 a.m. — Pumpkin Patch on Austin Street
Noon — Coffin Races on East Hickory Street
2:30 p.m. — Flight of Souls featuring El Mariachi Quetzal at the Main Stage
4 p.m. — Cirque du Horror at the Big Top Circus Tent
4 p.m. — Coffin Races awards
5:15 p.m. — Costume Contest at the Main Stage
6 p.m. — Parade lineup
7 p.m. — Twilight Lantern & Costume Parade
9 p.m. — Cirque du Horror at the Big Top Circus Tent, featuring a special 8 p.m. preshow from Moonlight Flow Collective
MAIN STAGE
At Industrial and Mulberry streets
11:30 a.m. — The Pan Tones
12:45 p.m. — El Chanclazo
2:15 p.m. — Flight of Souls featuring El Mariachi Quetzal
3 p.m. — Conjunto Imperio MX
4:15 p.m. — The Go-Go Rillas
5:15 p.m. — Costume Contest
6 p.m. — Bone Doggie & Rache Anne
7:30 p.m. — Dreaming of You: The Selena Experience
PUMPKIN PATCH STAGE
At Oak Street
11 a.m. — Denton Public Library Bilingual Story Time
Noon and 2 p.m. — Lorena & Juan puppet show
1 p.m. — Story Time: Aunt Misery & Death
3:15 p.m. — Marionette Show: Lorenzo & Catrina
4:30 p.m. — Story Time: The Rolling Pumpkin
5:30 p.m. — Cumbia Lesson with Jack
6 p.m. — Pumpkin Patch closes
COMMUNITY DANCE STAGE
At Oak and Austin streets
Noon-2:30 p.m. — Jaramillo Dance Group, including performances by:
- Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts: Academy Dance Co.
- Cheek Middle School Dance
- Ballet Folklorico de Nette Schultz
- TWU Pioneer Pride Dance Team
- TWU International Dance Company
- Ballet Folklorico Alumnas de Oro
3-4 p.m. — Mariachi band performances from TWU and Denton ISD
SUNDAY, OCT. 27
5:30 p.m. — Cirque du Horror at the Big Top Circus Tent
Saturday morning, find a spot on Hickory Street and watch the festival’s iconic Coffin Races. Watch teams race downhill in decorated, customized wheeled coffins — and brace yourself for crashes into the hay bales at the finish line.
For younger guests, visit the festival’s Pumpkin Patch on Saturday for a variety of carnival games and kid-friendly activities. Costumes are encouraged, and the Pumpkin Patch stage will feature story times, puppet shows and even a cumbia lesson throughout the day.
Spend the day visiting local vendors, watching performances and visiting the community ofrenda.
At the ofrenda, community members are invited to bring objects memorializing their dead loved ones — copies of photographs, poems, favorite food and drink — and place them on the altar. Attendees will also be invited to write the names of their dead loved ones on handmade paper monarch butterflies to leave on the altar.
Join in on the festival’s costume contest Saturday at 5 p.m. Contest winners will receive a trophy, a spot as an honorary parade chair for the Twilight Lantern & Costume Parade and a feature on social media. The costume contest has a $10 registration fee that will also secure your spot in the parade that follows.
The Twilight Lantern & Costume Parade begins at 7 p.m. and will travel from Oakland and East Oak streets to Oakland, East Hickory and Industrial streets, ending at the festival’s main stage for the last performance of the night — Dreaming of You: The Selena Experience, a Selena tribute group.
Throughout the day, the main stage will showcase music and variety performances, including the Pan Tones, El Chanclazo, the Flight of Souls featuring El Mariachi Quetzal, Conjunto Imperio MX, the Go-Go Gorillas, Bone Doggie & Rache Anne.
For a full list of events and more info about Denton’s Day of the Dead, visit dentondayofthedeadfestival.com.