The week opens on Saturday, October 24, at Jens Jensen Park, 486 Roger Williams Avenue. From 3 to 6 p.m. there will be music, sugar skull face painting and a cempasúchil flower ceremony at the Fountain of Memories. People who come dressed as a Catrín or Catrina can win prizes, and the City's listing says anyone is welcome to "simply come as you are."
The event is called Tarde de Catrinas, and it costs nothing. Seven of the 11 experiences on the 2026 Día de los Muertos Week lineup are free, and that includes the events that open and close the week. The four paid events are each sold separately by the business hosting them. In 2025 it worked differently: most of the hands-on activity required a single pass.
Last year, the workshops came with a pass
In 2025 the second annual week ran October 25 to November 2, and it all happened downtown. According to a Patch community post from October 2025, the free kickoff was at the Memorial Park Gazebo. Its centerpiece was a large ofrenda by local artist Jessica Rivero, dedicated to corn and seed as symbols of life.
After that, most of the week was behind a ticket. The DDM Experience Pass cost $35 in advance or $45 at the kickoff. It covered workshops in sugar skull decorating, papel picado, pan de muerto baking and cempasúchil flower arranging, along with wine and tequila tastings. The week ended with a Catrina Fashion Show & Contest, and pass holders got VIP admission.
The 2026 lineup doesn't mention a pass anywhere.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | Oct. 25 to Nov. 2 | Oct. 24 to Nov. 1 |
| Where | Downtown Highland Park | Downtown and the Ravinia District |
| Opening | Free, Memorial Park Gazebo | Free, Jens Jensen Park |
| Workshops and tastings | DDM Experience Pass, $35 advance or $45 at kickoff | Sold one at a time by each host |
| Closing | Catrina Fashion Show, VIP for pass holders | Free Community Ofrenda Closing Celebration, then a Pixca masquerade by RSVP |
Many of the partners are the same as last year. Patch's October 2025 coverage listed The Art Center, the Park District of Highland Park and Pixca among the 2025 participants. All three are back for 2026. What changed is the structure. The Park District now runs both community bookends, the Highland Park Public Library leads two ofrenda walks, and The Art Center is screening a film. None of these need a ticket.
The free week, start to finish
Because the free events don't depend on a pass, they can be spread across all nine days. Here they are in order:
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 3 to 6 p.m.: Tarde de Catrinas at Jens Jensen Park, with the flower ceremony at the Fountain of Memories.
- Wednesday, Oct. 28, 9 a.m.: Sculpt and Flow Día de Los Muertos. This is a morning movement session. The lineup lists it as a free community event.
- Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2 to 2:30 p.m.: Ofrenda Walking Tour for Adults. The group meets at the Highland Park Public Library, 494 Laurel Avenue, and walks to the ofrenda in Memorial Park. RSVP required.
- Friday, Oct. 30, 5 to 6 p.m.: Mexican Hot Chocolate con Pan at Pixca. The restaurant describes its cooking as seasonal and farm-to-table with global influences, and highlights chef Fernando Angelina's Oaxaca roots.
- Friday, Oct. 30, 6 to 8 p.m.: Family Movie Screening of COCO, an outdoor showing at The Art Center. Registration is through Eventbrite.
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 10:30 to 11 a.m.: Recorrido familiar bilingüe a la ofrenda. This is the bilingual family version of the library walk to Memorial Park, held on Halloween morning.
- Sunday, Nov. 1, 3 to 5 p.m.: Community Ofrenda Closing Celebration.
Friday the 30th is the easiest evening to plan as a family. The Pixca hot chocolate ends at 6 p.m., right when COCO starts at The Art Center, so you can go from one to the other. On Saturday the 31st, the bilingual walk is done by 11 a.m., which leaves the rest of Halloween open.
The ofrenda itself stayed where it was. The opening moved to Jens Jensen Park, but both library walks still end at the ofrenda in Memorial Park, which was the center of the 2025 week.
Four tickets, each sold by its host
Last year one pass covered all the paid experiences. This year each one has its own price, and each is sold by the business putting it on:
- Sunday, Oct. 25, 4 to 7 p.m.: A Mexican Ritual of Bread & Remembrance at Casa Colibrís, 481 Roger Williams Avenue. The program is pan de muerto, chocolate and atole, and tickets are $35.
- Wednesday, Oct. 28, 6 to 8 p.m.: Woven Memories, a guided art session at The Merchant, 122 North Avenue. That address is in Highwood, just over the city line. The $35 price covers one glass of wine, instruction and all materials.
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 6 to 9 p.m.: Almas & Agave at Atelier by elliestyled, 1900 Sheridan Road. The organizers describe an evening of food, agave cocktails, cacao, scent, music and movement. It costs $110 per guest with food and drinks included.
- Sunday, Nov. 1, 6 to 9 p.m.: Masquerade Cocktail Party at Pixca, by RSVP. It starts an hour after the free closing celebration ends.
That means two $35 experiences, one at $110 and one by RSVP. Some of last year's pass workshops have turned into separate events. Pan de muerto baking was part of the 2025 pass, and this year it's the center of the Casa Colibrís afternoon. You can buy the evening you want without paying for the rest of the week.
Roger Williams Avenue on opening weekend
The first two events of the week are almost across the street from each other. Tarde de Catrinas is at 486 Roger Williams Avenue on Saturday, and the Casa Colibrís afternoon is at 481 Roger Williams Avenue on Sunday.
Allow extra time to get there. The City's Sheridan Road sidewalk project began August 3 and has closed northbound Sheridan from about Roger Williams to Cedar. Traffic is detoured west on Roger Williams Avenue and then north on St. Johns Avenue. The City expects the work to last through November, with final landscaping in early 2027. So the closure will still be in place on opening weekend, and the detour runs along the same street as both events.
The City lists the week at 1707 Saint Johns Avenue, downtown. It also says that for 2026 the events have spread across Highland Park into the Ravinia District. If the Ravinia District is where you usually spend weekends, our look at how Oktoberfest landed on Dean Avenue shows how that part of town has been taking on events in recent years.
What the City has lined up after November 1
The free format arrives just as the City starts spending money to bring in visitors. The Record North Shore reported that on September 28 the City Council approved Highland Park's first-ever radio advertising partnership. It is a $40,000 iHeartMedia campaign on WLIT 93.9 FM, running November 9 through January 3, 2027. According to The Record, City data from Placer.ai showed growing foot traffic at events like Taste of Highland Park from Buffalo Grove and Long Grove, but slower growth from Libertyville, Lincolnshire and Barrington. The ads are aimed at those western Lake County communities, and listeners will be pointed to Enjoy Highland Park.
That campaign begins about a week after the last ofrenda event ends. Next on the City calendar is the Holiday Lighting at Port Clinton Square, 600 Central Avenue, on Saturday, November 21.
Here at Lotzof Malk Residential, Highland Park has been home base since 2017, and we keep up with how its calendar changes from one year to the next. If you'd like to talk about the town or this season's events, reach out through our Highland Park page. We'd love to start the conversation.
