Día de los Muertos: Several alter-focused events will be flowering, like so many marigolds, around LA in the coming days. One of the largest? It's the nine nights of Novenario processions at Olvera Street, which begin on Friday, Oct. 25. A Mayan blessing and soul cleansing opens every procession, while Aztec dancers and revelers in traditional Muertos make-up and costumes join in. Music, too, will play a part in the eveningtime event. It's free to see, and it begins, nightly, at 7 o'clock. Note that the multi-day community altars display debuts on Oct. 26.
Boo-nion Station: Just across Alameda from Olvera Street is this two-day family festival, one that is also free to join. It's very much about activities for children, from the Treats-on-Track Trail to the costume contests to the tarantula tattoos. A Monster Mash dance party, and puppets, and crafty doings fill out the Oct. 26 and 27 schedule. Feeling peckish? Food trucks will be on hand during both days. It all begins at noon and wraps at 6 p.m., giving you a chance to join the Day of the Dead happenings nearby, after, if the spirit calls.
Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade: As far as super-duper long-running October larks go, this might have be one of the super-duperest. It will soon mark its first 100 years, in 2023, and its vintage, family-pleasing charms are known throughout Orange County, and in other counties, too. There are fanciful floats to wave at, and costumes to admire, and the Halloween Pooch Pawrade, and a pumpkin art contest, too, at the Oct. 26 bash. Is it as old as Halloween itself? Nope, but as far as SoCal goes, this is one of our most venerable H-ween scenes.
Haute Dog Howl'oween Parade: What do hundreds of dressy hounds look like? You can answer that question for yourself, on Sunday, Oct. 27, if you make your way to Marina Vista Park in Long Beach. That's the when and where for one of the biggest woofer gatherings around, one that finds bunches of Fidos wearing a host of truly clever costumes. Upping the clever air? Many of their humans are dressed in complementary fashion, making the group costumes some of the best parts of a dog-gone gleeful day. It's all free to see, while entering your pup, ahead of time, is ten bucks.
More Tail-Wagging Wonderful-o-sity: There are a few other furry festivals happening over the weekend. Corgi enthusiasts will make for Huntington Dog Beach, where oodles of squatty cuties'll take to the sand. The date? It's Oct. 26, so you can bet, given the party's proximity to Halloween, that plenty of pooches will be in costume. And Strut Your Mutt returns to Exposition Park on Oct. 26, all to raise money for Best Friends Animal Society. Does your mutt want to strut to help other canines? Woof woof.
