Santa Fe Plaza Día de los Muertos Celebrates Route 66 at 100

An ofrenda is an altar built for loved ones who have died. Favorite foods, drinks, photographs and marigolds go on it, a welcome for a spirit traveling back for the day. Local volunteers adorn the community ofrendas on the Plaza. Between 12 and 4 PM on Saturday you can sponsor and decorate your own with memories, pictures and other remembrances, and a photograph of someone dear can also go on the digital ofrenda for a remembrance donation. Around the bandstand, papel picado cut-paper banners, painted masks and decorative skulls fill the square, none of it Halloween dressing.

Route 66 turns 100 in 2026. Its first decade ran straight through Santa Fe, and this edition adds chrome. On Saturday from 12 to 6 PM the Viejitos Car Club of Española parks vintage cars along the Plaza, free to walk through. Friday belongs to the bandstand. A short film runs 4:40 to 5, welcome remarks follow, then Rob Martinez at 5:25, Tíos Míos at 6:20, Flor de Toloache at 7:25 and Nosotros closing 8:50 to 9:55. Set times follow the final program.

Admission is free, with no ticket or wristband. Downtown has no dedicated event lot. Use a city garage and expect rates to change on special-event nights. The Sandoval garage at 216 West San Francisco Street runs $1 for the first hour and $12 for the day. The free Pick-Up bus to Canyon Road stops running at 7:30 PM, too early for a 10 PM finish. Walk or drive back to the garage. Bring a layer for after dark.