A visitor posed in front of a 34-foot handmade Catrina on a sunny Wednesday morning at Fruitvale Transit Village Plaza. Nearby, ARISE High School students were deciding where to get lunch, and a group of women walked past the fountain with their phones out and their necks craned up.
That was a regular weekday, more than a month before the festival, and it explains what is different about Fruitvale this fall. The Unity Council has run its Día de los Muertos Festival every year since 1996. For three decades it has been a single Sunday. This year the centerpiece went up on Sept. 22. It will stay through at least Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. The festival still happens on one Sunday, but the season around it now lasts about six weeks.
She Was Built to Outlast the Festival
Mojigangas, the papier-mâché figures this Catrina belongs to, usually sit on a light frame of carrizo, a plant similar to sugar cane or bamboo. Fruitvale's figure has a steel frame instead. Artsumex founder Jesús Sanabria told The Oaklandside the steel was chosen because of her size and because the goal was for her to last a few years. Thirty artisans worked on her for 12 weeks.
She weighs two tons and came from Tultepec, Mexico, on a semi-truck, packed in 26 parts. A crew that included two of the lead artisans, union carpenters from the North Coast States carpenters union, District 5 Councilmember Noel Gallo, and Unity Council CEO Chris Iglesias spent hours putting her together. Part of that work was leveling a section of the concrete plaza with a wooden platform strong enough to carry her.
The money shows how long she is meant to stay. The Unity Council's communications director, Caheri Gutierrez, said the first budget was $70,000, including shipping from Mexico. With added security at the plaza to prevent vandalism and the Oct. 1 community party, the final cost could reach $140,000. Funding came from individual donors, PG&E, and the Akonadi Foundation. Security is a cost you take on for a piece that stays out for weeks. A prop for one day wouldn't need it.
There's already talk about where she goes next. Councilmember Gallo has discussed a temporary installation at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport with its director of aviation, Craig Simon. The airport's communications director said OAK is "happy to explore a path" to host her.
What's Painted on Her Skirt
The best reason to visit on a quiet day is the detail. The festival draws more than 100,000 people, according to the Unity Council, and nobody gets a slow look at a sculpture in that crowd. On a Tuesday morning, you can walk all the way around her.
Her face is painted with hearts and flowers, like the sugar skulls families put on their altars. Her crown is made of orange marigolds, yellow poppies, and monarch butterflies. Her arms are open in welcome. The purple dress has relief sculptures of Oakland in it. Look for:
- The Oakland oak tree
- California poppies and hummingbirds
- Pan de muerto
- The Port of Oakland cranes
- Saint Elizabeth Catholic Church
Gutierrez credited Ornela's artistic vision for the Oakland references on the skirt. Along the hem, an inscription reads "Bienvenidos. Aquí estamos y no nos vamos," which means "Welcome. We are here and we're not going anywhere." The same phrase forms part of the festival's 2026 theme, "La Lucha Continúa: Aquí Estamos y no Nos Vamos."
The figure itself is older than the festival. La Catrina began in the early 1910s as a black-and-white drawing called Calavera Garbancera by the Mexican caricaturist José Guadalupe Posada. It was satire, and its point was that death comes for everyone, whatever their social status. Over the next century it became a familiar symbol of Day of the Dead.
The family who made her has worked at large scale before. Artsumex was founded in 2013 by siblings Amauri, Jesús, and Natividad Sanabria. Their work appeared in the Day of the Dead parade that opens the 2015 James Bond film "Spectre." That scene led Mexico City to start an annual parade the following year.
Using the Weeks Before Nov. 1
The festival is the same as ever. What's changed is how much time you have around it. Here is the calendar as published:
| Date | What's happening |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, Sept. 22 | Catrina arrives and is assembled on the plaza |
| Thursday, Oct. 1 | Official unveiling with free food and live music |
| Sunday, Nov. 1, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | 31st annual Día de los Muertos Festival, plaza and International Blvd from Fruitvale to 41st avenues |
| Tuesday, Nov. 3 | Election Day; the Catrina stays on display through at least this date |
The plaza is right next to Fruitvale BART, so a stop on the way to or from the train takes almost no planning. With a free morning, you can make a loop out of it that also covers the businesses the festival brings crowds to.
- Start with pan dulce. Bakery El Sol is inside the Fruitvale Public Market Village at 3340 E. 12th St., within walking distance of BART.
- See the Catrina while the plaza is quiet, and take the full walk around the skirt.
- Head up International Blvd. Shibam Coffee, a Yemeni coffee chain, moved into the former Red Bay Coffee space at 3136 International Blvd this summer. Farther along, the 3300 to 3800 blocks hold several long-standing spots. La Torta Loca at 3419 serves Mexican sandwiches, and Taqueria San Jose at 3433 serves tacos and burritos. El Huarache Azteca at 3842 is known for Mexico City-style dishes like the pambazo and huarache.
- Shop for your own altar. La Popular at 3610 International Blvd sells Mexican folk art, home goods, and ritual objects. Tombstone Western Wear at 3323 has been a Fruitvale staple for more than a decade.
You'll find this stretch of International Blvd much easier to walk now than on Nov. 1, when the festival takes over the street from Fruitvale to 41st Avenue.
The Foothill Detour
Foothill Boulevard has had more new openings this year. Shucos Magi opened its first brick-and-mortar location at 3329 Foothill Blvd in June. Its menu mixes Guatemalan and Mexican dishes, including shucos, mulitas, tacos, and quesabirria. A few doors down, Peña's Bakery at 3355 Foothill makes tortas in the morning, and the San Francisco Chronicle profiled it back in 2023. Farther east, Paulina's Cafecitos opened at 4200 Foothill Blvd near Fremont High. The Latina-owned cafe serves espresso drinks, matcha, and lemonades.
Festival Day
The festival is free and outdoors. The Unity Council lists live music, family games, rides and activities, traditional Latin American artisans, and community-made altar installations honoring los muertos. The vendor marketplace focuses on Latin American art, food, and culture. Congresswoman Barbara Lee inducted the festival into the U.S. Library of Congress as a "Local Legacy."
Altar artist applications closed Aug. 28, and vendor applications closed Oct. 2. As of this week, the Unity Council hasn't posted a stage-by-stage lineup or a street-closure map. Updates will be at DiaOakland.com.
The altars may be the main reason not to save everything for Sunday. The open call asked artists to honor a loved one, a cause, a community story, or a shared memory. It suggested flowers, papel picado, candles, textiles, traditional foods, and photographs. With 100,000 people on site, you'll see them in passing. If you've already spent a quiet morning with the Catrina and walked International Blvd, festival day can go to the altars.
Gutierrez hopes the installation brings more visitors and businesses to Fruitvale and gives the local economy a boost. Each of those weekday visits brings people to Shibam, Bakery El Sol, and the taquerias on International, and those visits happen on days when the festival crowds aren't there.
If you're curious how places like Fruitvale Plaza and International Blvd shape life on the surrounding blocks, I'm happy to walk you through what I see across Oakland. Book a confidential consult with Raymond Rosales, tell me what you're weighing, and I'll map out sensible next steps on timing, neighborhoods, and strategy.
