KANSAS CITY, Kan. — This Saturday, Kansas City, Kansas, will welcome tens of thousands of people for the Day of the Dead celebration. Day of the Dead is a Mexican tradition where families and friends honor their loved ones who have passed away, while celebrating their life and spiritual journey.
Visit KCK and the Central Avenue Betterment Association (CABA) have been working for nearly a year in planning the event. The organizations estimate at least 20,000 people will be in attendance.
"Day of the Dead is a celebration that, in a nutshell, is like a Memorial Day with the Mexican flavor," said Edgar Galicia, executive director at CABA. "We believe that once a year, our loved ones get permission to come back and visit, so we celebrate their visit and we celebrate with everything they like — with their food, their drinks, their clothing, their style and celebrate their memory."
The event started in 2016 and has grown throughout the years. Galicia said Central Avenue will be shut down for the first time to make room for at least 10 stages, face painters, contests, the parade and the nearly 100 food vendors, who are predominately Hispanic KCK families.
"We invested about three months of education in food handling with these families, and so they are passing inspection, they are certified, they're homemade foods and flavors, bringing Mexico with them," Galicia explained.
This year's event is expected to draw its largest crowd to date and is attracting the attention of city officials from municipalities that have a strong Hispanic population.
"We are being sought after from cities like Houston, Miami, San Antonio, they're sending people to see our celebration because they want to have their own," Galicia said.
The event is kicking off this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and is free to the public.
"We finally get that little spotlight and time for us to really show and embrace who we are and show people what we do," said Katie Ramirez Gonzalez with CABA.
