Stephen Gilson Jr.
Arts Editor
The Fairplex in Pomona opened its doors to all people who chose to celebrate the recent Dia De Los Muertos holiday Saturday evening with its “En Memoria” celebration.
Dia De Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a holiday dedicated to celebrating lost loved ones in Latino culture. Tradition calls for altars, or “ofrendas” to be constructed in bright colors in order to help the dead find their way to our world.
From there, the dead’s favorite foods and drinks are put on the ofrenda as an offering of love. Ofrendas were sprawled all over the grounds at the Fairplex.
The Fairplex also opened its doors for a massive car show, with hundreds of classic cars lining the grounds and Expo Halls, from Chevrolet to Cadillac, classic car enthusiasts were able to have a blast viewing all of the shiny vintage cars.
“The cars are awesome,” Monica Rodriguez of Glendora said. “I just randomly got an email, I looked it up and then I bought the tickets. We come to events here [the Fairplex] alot.”
Levi’s, Nike Cortez’s and Pendleton flannels are a staple of old school Chicano fashion. Plenty of those could be seen worn by many of the guests attending the celebration. The whole event brought pride to many Mexican-American people’s hearts after being able to unapologetically celebrate their culture.
“Being a Latina is a blessing,” Viviana Perez of La Puente said. “We’re not like other cultures and we like to come together and do a lot. We love to cook and do everything together as a community.”
The Fairplex offered its typical food choices for guests at the event. However, with a cooler weather trend, the Fairplex also capitalized on the opportunity to sell cafe de olla, a Mexican coffee made with cinnamon and sugar, to further allow guests to relish in the rich and beautiful Mexican culture.
“This year, it has been a little hard to celebrate Dia De Los Muertos just because we have a lot of personal family things going on,” Rodriguez said. “I think coming out and going to events like this is just letting us keep our traditions alive and continue them.”
For those who did not don the iconic sugar skull makeup or come dressed in their classic or vintage clothing, a vendor marker was set up to allow guests to buy clothes and other memorabilia to get into the spirit of Dia De Los Muertos.
Guests could also buy handmade jewelry, incense candles and other clothing accessories to take home a piece of the culture.
“Dia De Los Muertos is near and dear to my heart,” Elizabeth Zambrano, Victorville resident and Viva Las Calaveras owner said. “It is a beautiful way to honor the people who have passed on and the people we love. I’ve experienced it (Dia De Los Muertos) in Mexico, but not here in L.A. and I’m glad we can partake in it here.”
While the celebration is rather joyous and meant to paint death in a positive light, feelings of sorrow are still very common to experience while celebrating Dia De Los Muertos. However, that did not stop people from putting those emotions to the side temporarily and focusing on celebrating the legacy of their lost loved ones.
“My grandma’s tradition was always doing our little altar,” Viviana Aguirre of Glendora said. “My mom always helped and she taught me and my brother how to do everything, so now we build our altars then we come here and celebrate. It’s something we do to remember our family members.”
En Memoria provided a cathartic experience for the Mexican community, allowing pain and loss to weld together different families and bring us together to celebrate the lives of those we lost.
Stephen Gilson Jr. can be reached at stephen.gilson@laverne.edu.
Stephen Gilson Jr. is a senior journalism major with a concentration in broadcast journalism. He is the arts editor for the Campus Times, a staff writer for La Verne Magazine and a staff photographer for both publications. He has previously been a staff writer, assistant editor and LV Life Editor for the Campus Times.
