Halloween and Día de los Muertos Get Their Own Weekends in Downtown Redwood City This Year
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
Last year the costumes came off and the marigolds went up within a day or two of each other. Redwood City's Día de los Muertos celebration filled Courthouse Square on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, which was the first Sunday of November and the tail end of Halloween weekend. This year Halloween falls on a Saturday, and the next day, Nov. 1, is the first Sunday of November. The celebration is not on that day. Redwood City Pulse reported that it returns to Courthouse Square on Sunday, Nov. 8.
That one-week shift changes how downtown's fall calendar fits together. Halloween and Día de los Muertos used to share one crowded stretch of Broadway. In 2026 each gets its own weekend, and the Downtown Library's ofrendas exhibition runs across the week between them.
The organizers at Casa Círculo Cultural say on their event page that the celebration "is always on the first Sunday of November." The same page lists the 2026 date as November 8th, which is the second Sunday. The recent record shows why the first-Sunday line felt like a fixed rule.
| Year | Celebration date | Sunday of November |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Nov. 6 | First |
| 2023 | Nov. 5 | First |
| 2024 | Nov. 3 | First |
| 2025 | Nov. 2 | First |
| 2026 | Nov. 8 | Second |
The organizers have not published a reason for the date. What matters for anyone who lives here is how the calendar now works. The first Sunday of November follows the Halloween weekend shows on Broadway, and the community altars, the procession and the Tlaxcala program arrive a full week later.
Day of the Dead is traditionally observed Nov. 1 and 2, as the Pulse notes, and families build ofrendas with photographs, marigolds, candles and the favorite foods of the people they are remembering. In past years the public festival sat right on top of those dates. This year Nov. 1 is the Sunday of Halloween weekend and Nov. 2 is the Monday after it. The downtown gathering waits until the following Sunday.
The Downtown Library at 1044 Middlefield Road started the season first. Its annual Ofrendas & Sugar Skulls Exhibition opened in the Makerspace on Oct. 20 and runs through Nov. 6 during regular library hours. Admission is free. The work on display is by local artist Rosario González and includes ofrendas, hand-decorated sugar skulls and related artwork.
The exhibition closes on a Friday, two days before the Courthouse Square celebration. The indoor altars stay up through Halloween weekend and the quiet week after it, then come down just before the outdoor ones go up. Until Nov. 6, a free ofrenda display is a short walk from Broadway on any afternoon the library is open.
On Wednesday, Oct. 28, González leads Calaveras de Azúcar / Sugar Skulls in the same Makerspace from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The session includes a demonstration and a discussion of Mexican regional traditions, and the library provides free skulls for visitors to decorate and take home. It is a weekday-afternoon program, three days before Halloween. With the festival on Nov. 8, a skull decorated that Wednesday has more than a week to sit on a home altar before the public one goes up on Broadway.
Without the festival on the first Sunday, the last week of October is a Halloween week with no overlap. Most of it happens on one block of Broadway and one stretch of Main Street.
Redwood City Pulse's Halloween roundup covers more events across the region for anyone who wants to go beyond downtown.
The Halloween block and the festival block are next to each other. Club Fox and the Fox Theatre sit at 2209 and 2221 Broadway, and the City lists the Día de los Muertos celebration at 2200 Broadway. In earlier years both holidays crowded onto that stretch within about 24 hours. This year each gets the same few hundred feet to itself, one week apart.
Bakery timing is the one piece of the season that has not moved. Chavez Supermarket, which runs its own panadería and has Redwood City stores at 775 Arguello St. and 46 5th Ave., advertises pan de muerto on its homepage "until November 2nd." That window follows the traditional Nov. 1 and 2 dates. The page does not print a year or say which location carries the bread, so call your branch before you go.
If the window holds this year, the store bread will be gone almost a week before the festival. The festival does not depend on it, though. The City's listing says food vendors on Broadway will serve traditional items such as pan de muerto, hot chocolate and tamales. Under this year's calendar, you can buy pan de muerto at the bakery counter on the traditional days and from a festival booth on Nov. 8.
The celebration fills Broadway between Hamilton Street and Middlefield Road. Casa Círculo Cultural and the San Mateo County History Museum organize it in collaboration with the Redwood City Parks & Arts Foundation. Each year the organizers pick a region of Latin America with a deep connection to Day of the Dead. For 2026 they chose Tlaxcala for its Indigenous heritage and traditions.
The two official listings give slightly different hours. The City's calendar lists 3:30 to 8 p.m., and the organizer's Eventbrite page lists 3 to 8:30 p.m. Both describe the event as free. According to the City, the program includes community-made ceremonial altars, a procession, Catrinas, face painting, free children's activities, food booths and live entertainment. The welcome speech and procession typically begin at 6 p.m.
The organizer is also running two contests. "Recuerdos sobre ruedas," a trunk-ofrenda contest with altars built in car trunks, is set for Nov. 8, and its viewing, judging and award times have not been posted yet. Dates for the altar festival contest are listed as coming soon. The performer lineup and stage schedule will also be announced closer to the date, and Casa Círculo Cultural will post them on its page.
The library exhibition closes on Friday, Nov. 6, so the week of Nov. 2 is the last chance to see it before the outdoor altars go up.
Caitlin Beanan has followed downtown Redwood City's calendar from Courthouse Square to the Fox for years, and she keeps the same close watch on what is selling a few blocks away. If this year's second-Sunday celebration has you thinking about your own place near Broadway, get your free home valuation and see where it stands this fall.
Looking to buy, sell, or just have a question? I'm always available to help and would love to work with you. Contact me today to find out how we can be of assistance to you!