KSBW Report by Christian Balderas
WATSONVILLE, Calif. —
Día de los Muertos festivities kicked off Friday evening at Watsonville City Plaza.
The event had live music and performances, arts and crafts and 15 ofrendas, or alters, to honor Santa Cruz County community members that have died.
The holiday recognizes death as a natural part of the human experience and is usually celebrated on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.
"We celebrate and honor our loved ones who are no longer with us," said Consuelo Alba, the co-founder of the Watsonville Film Festival. "We don't do it with sadness necessarily. We do it with a lot of love, joy, and color."
Various community partners built ofrendas for coworkers, friends and family that have passed including the California Highway Patrol, the domestic abuse nonprofit Monarch Services, Watsonville High School and the Watsonville Peace and Unity Coalition.
The annual celebration started in 2018 when the Watsonville Film Festival held a screening of the movie CoCo in honor of the holiday.
Since then the Watsonville Día de los Muertos festival has continued to screen the Disney-Pixar film at City Plaza Park every year.