Carbondale's Día de los Muertos celebration is underway this week, and the procession on Friday night is only one part of it. The community ofrenda on the front patio of The Launchpad was scheduled to go up Monday, Nov. 2, and stays until Monday, Nov. 9. Business altars have been going up inside Main Street shops since mid-October and stay through the weekend. On Friday, Nov. 6, the town gathers around those altars for the First Friday Día de los Muertos Celebration, which Carbondale Arts calls the largest valley-wide honoring of the holiday.
How the event has grown is the best guide to enjoying it. In 2018, The Aspen Times described a procession of more than 200 people walking from the Third Street Center to Thunder River Theatre. Six years later, the crowd counts were in the thousands. Town minutes record Place AI crowd estimates of 3,400 people for the 2023 celebration and 4,600 for 2024, with a note that more crowd control was needed during the procession. The two figures measure different things, since one counts marchers and the other the whole crowd. Either way, the event has grown well beyond a single short walk. The altars spread through the week make it easy to take in the celebration at your own pace.
The Community Ofrenda at The Launchpad
Carbondale Arts says the celebration starts with the community altar on The Launchpad's front patio at 76 S. 4th Street. Anyone is welcome to bring a photo or memento of a loved one, and the ofrenda stays up for a week for collective remembrance, honoring and healing. The organizer's invitation reads, in Spanish first:
Contribuye con tus recuerdos a la ofrenda comunitaria. Contribute your mementos to the community ofrenda.
The ofrenda guidelines are short and practical:
- Bring a copy. Photo copies are recommended over originals.
- Label anything framed. Put your contact information on the back.
- Leave food at home. No food is allowed at the altar because of animals.
- Mind the dates. Setup was Nov. 2, and takedown is Nov. 9.
The guidelines don't set a deadline for residents, so a photo dropped off Thursday or Friday afternoon still joins the altar for the rest of the week. A quiet weekday visit, before Friday's crowd, lets you take time with the photos and keepsakes that neighbors have left.
Thirteen More Altars Around Main Street
Carbondale Arts says businesses and locals also build ofrendas along Main Street. This year's participating businesses are:
- Mountain Tide Provisions
- 2757 Design Co.
- Flowers on Main
- The Crow and Key
- Bonfire Coffee
- Carbondale Beer Works
- Phat Thai
- Carbondale Clay Center
- Main Street Gallery
- Main Street Liquors
- Poss Architecture & Planning
- Lulubelle
- Carbondale Library
Business altars were set up between Oct. 15 and Nov. 1 and come down after Nov. 8. Businesses that signed up by Oct. 14 got a badge to show in their window, so look for it as you walk. A coffee at Bonfire, an errand on Main and a stop at the library add up to an ofrenda walk before Friday even starts.
Two businesses are adding programming on Friday night. Mountain Tide Provisions is hosting the Andy Zanca Youth Empowerment Program, whose members will play 30-minute sets of their favorite vinyl. Nido will serve small bites of pozole, agua fresca and Mexican hot chocolate from Susie Jimenez Productions, and will sell locally made SOCO Chile Company spices.
Friday, Hour by Hour
On Friday, the altars, the food and the procession all come together. Here is the published schedule:
- 4:30 p.m. Face painting, hot chocolate and pan de muerto at the Carbondale Library.
- 5 p.m. The event begins in Chacos Park and the 4th Street Plaza, and the food trucks open.
- 6 p.m. The procession leaves the Third Street Center.
- 6:45 p.m. The procession arrives at Chacos Park and stage programming begins.
- 9 p.m. The event ends.
The procession route runs from the Third Street Center along 3rd Street to Main Street and ends at the 4th Street Plaza. Expect Carbondale's Folklórico dancers, catrinas, puppets and performers, and anyone is welcome to join. The 2018 procession ended at Thunder River Theatre. The finish now sits on the plaza next to The Launchpad's patio, so the march ends beside the community ofrenda.
The stage lineup after 6:45 p.m. includes Folklórico, Cumbre Sol, Mezcla Socials Dance, Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra and El Proyecto de Mariachi. Food trucks are El Sabor de México, Taquería El Yaquí and El Bajón de Churros. Community booths include the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen Valley Land Trust, Dance Initiative, the Latino Advisory Board, Powers Art Center, S.A.N.A. and TACAW.
With crowds in the thousands, start time matters. Get your face painted at the library at 4:30, eat before 6, and choose your spot on the route rather than at the stage. The 2024 crowd estimate is the town's own number, and its note about crowd control was written about the procession.
To march in a mask you made yourself, the Aspen Art Museum is running an alebrije mask workshop from 5 to 7 p.m. as part of Carbondale's First Friday. It's presented with Carbondale Arts, and the masks are made to wear in the community procession.
The Rest of the Week, on One Calendar
The Carbondale ofrendas stay up after Friday, and the celebration continues up valley on Sunday.
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Through Sun., Nov. 8 | Rooftop community ofrenda; paper, pens and marigolds provided for written offerings | Aspen Art Museum |
| Fri., Nov. 6, 4:30 to 9 p.m. | First Friday Día de los Muertos | Carbondale Library, Third Street Center, Chacos Park, 4th Street Plaza |
| Sun., Nov. 8, 3 to 6 p.m. | Fourth annual Día de los Muertos Celebration, free with RSVP | Aspen Art Museum |
| After Sun., Nov. 8 | Business ofrendas come down | Main Street |
| Mon., Nov. 9 | Community ofrenda comes down | The Launchpad patio |
The Sunday event in Aspen has art workshops for all ages, music by Orquestra Chimbangle and Los Reyes de Jalisco, and a free community merienda from El Korita. There will also be Dance Initiative's Folklórico, Cumbre Flow Bachata and Salsa, family portraits and face painting by Kidtoons. It's free, but you need to RSVP through the museum.
Why the Altars Come First
Carbondale Arts has always put the altars at the center of this event. In 2018, then-Carbondale Arts Executive Director Amy Kimberly told The Aspen Times that the holiday "is a time to honor those who have passed on. For Carbondale it is also an opportunity for our different cultures to come together." She described the altars as "a great mix of traditional altars and then artful altars that are very nontraditional." That year, families' altars were displayed at the Third Street Center.
The altars have since spread out. The Post Independent's photos from the 2024 celebration, which it called the 20th, show a community ofrenda at The Launchpad and another altar at the library. Its coverage of the 21st edition in November 2025 documented a community altar of candles, photos and keepsakes. Today there's a central ofrenda on The Launchpad's patio plus 13 more at participating businesses and the library. The altars line the same streets the procession walks on Friday.
If You're Staying Out After 9
Friday night has more going on in town. Thunder River Theatre Company is celebrating 10 years of Consensual Improv on Nov. 6, and Steve's Guitars has Emily Barnes & Lena Rich at 8 p.m. On Saturday afternoon, the Crystal Theatre at 427 Main St. is showing "Rear Window" at 3 p.m.
Once the altars come down, The Launchpad gallery turns into Carbondale Arts' Deck the Walls Holiday Market. It opens Friday, Nov. 13, at 10 a.m. and runs through Dec. 24, with artisan goods from local and regional artists. December's First Friday, Light Up Carbondale, is Dec. 4 from 5 to 8 p.m. The tree lighting is at 5:30 p.m., and free Santa sleigh rides run from 5:45 to 7:45 p.m.
Whether you're a full-time Carbondale resident or come for the season, these First Fridays are a good time to catch up with neighbors. If you'd like to talk about your own place in the valley, from seasonal stays to ownership, Lori Guilander would be glad to meet you, maybe over hot chocolate on the 4th Street Plaza.