The Veronica Robles Cultural Center (VROCC) presented its 2026 Annual Día de Muertos Celebration in collaboration with the ICA Watershed, the Cities of Boston and Chelsea, the Mexican Consulate in Boston, and the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra.
In its fourteenth consecutive year, New England’s largest multi-day, multi-site Day of the Dead celebration brought communities together to honor loved ones through art, music, and cultural traditions. The four-day celebration opened with a full house at the Boston Pops’ third annual Día de Muertos concert at Symphony Hall and drew nearly 4,000 attendees to community festivities and school visits in East Boston and Chelsea.
Activities included live music, folkloric dance, food vendors, healing sessions, face painting, Catrina parades, and community ofrendas (altars). With the exception of the Boston Pops concert, all events were free and open to the public.
A distinctive highlight was the animation show created by Luis Pacheco, a Mexican multimedia artist from Sonora, Mexico, who has contributed to the project for the past four years. With support from VROCC’s partner Illuminus, his work was projected onto the walls of the ICA Watershed and, for the first time this year, also displayed on the big screen at Chelsea Square.
