Pike Place Market hosts first Día de Muertos celebration Friday
Oct 22, 2026, 11:52 AM | Updated: Oct 23, 2026, 7:58 am
Dancing horses, giant puppets, and Mexican wrestling will take over Pike Place Market on Friday for its first Día de Muertos celebration, an event combining entertainment with opportunities to honor loved ones who have died.
The Oct. 23 celebration will spread across the market, Pike Plaza and Victor Steinbrueck Park, with an evening parade through the historic district.
“We are absolutely overjoyed to be playing host for the first time to this,” Rachel Ligtenberg, president and CEO of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority, told “Seattle’s Morning News.”
Activities will run roughly from noon to 9 p.m., with music and performances on a stage beneath the market’s clock and sign.
“It is truly an all-day party,” Ligtenberg said.
Art, food and cultural activities spread across the market
Visitors can expect art, food, and cultural activities along the market’s brick streets. Ligtenberg said roughly 40 women wearing Catrina face paint will participate throughout the day.
At Pike Plaza, near First Avenue and Pike Street, a wrestling ring will host lucha libre, or Mexican wrestling.
“There will be acts, performances, music throughout the entire day, and then there will be art, and there’s going to be food, and there will be culture,” Ligtenberg said.
An evening procession featuring about 300 participants is scheduled to begin around 6:30 p.m. The route starts on Western Avenue, heads toward Lenora Street, continues down First Avenue and ends on the bricks of Pike Place.
“There will be the absolutely glorious, beautiful, divine giant puppets,” Ligtenberg said. “There’s going to be dancing horses.”
While the celebration promises plenty of spectacle, remembrance will be central to the event. Victor Steinbrueck Park will feature several altars, including a large, marigold-adorned ofrenda. Visitors will be able to print photographs of loved ones from their phones, light candles, and place the images within the altar, Ligtenberg said.
When asked how people unfamiliar with Day of the Dead celebrations can participate respectfully, she encouraged visitors to embrace both reflection and celebration.
“I think showing up with both respect and joy is much of what I think can make it really meaningful,” she said.
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Celebration builds on market’s role as a cultural gathering place
Ligtenberg said bringing Mexican and Hispanic heritage into the market is an honor, and she described a recent gathering that reinforced its potential as a cultural meeting place. During the World Cup, she said, Mexican fans gathered around downtown Seattle. After a Mexico victory, fans streamed into the market.
“A dance party erupted under the clock and sign,” she said.
Planning for Friday’s celebration was already underway, but the spontaneous gathering helped affirm the market’s direction.
“We can be this hub for all people,” Ligtenberg said.
She encouraged visitors to explore activities across the market throughout the day and make time for the evening procession.
“Not to be missed is this procession, the parade that kicks off around 6:30 p.m.,” she said.
More information is available here and on the market’s Instagram account, where organizers are sharing event updates.
Manda Factor is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. Follow Manda on X and email her here.
