Inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, the altars are already up in the adobe rooms of La Casa de Estudillo, La Casa de Machado y Stewart, La Casa de Machado y Silvas and Seeley Stable. Each one honors the people who lived in that building in the 1800s. In the Fiesta de Reyes plaza at 754 Calhoun Street, a new lighting package ties the displays together after sunset. None of this is waiting for Halloween. The Old Town San Diego program began October 1, 2026, and it builds to a three-day finale from Saturday, October 31 through Monday, November 2.
For anyone living in Middletown, the timing works in your favor. You can reach most of the celebration on a weeknight without planning around a crowd. The finale weekend has the procession, the Catrina Contest and the mercado. It also lands on a stretch of West Washington Street that is down to one lane for construction, and on State Parks lots that charge a special-event fee. Doing both halves well means treating them as two different outings.
What is open on a weeknight between now and October 30
The month-long part of the celebration is spread across three places.
The historic altars and the State Parks altar tours. California State Parks runs guided altar tours throughout October from the Robinson Rose Visitor Information Center. The tours cover what the ofrenda symbolizes and the families who lived in the park's buildings. Old Town's altar tour page describes them as free, 45 to 60 minutes long, limited to 18 people, with sign-up at Robinson Rose on the day. The main program page says registration is required in advance. The two pages disagree, so check the State Parks event page before you go.
Two exhibitions inside the park. The Captain Fitch Museum is showing Memory • Healing • Belonging, an exhibition of Día de los Muertos artwork by TK-12 students from San Diego Unified schools. The U.S. House has the La Calavera Catrina Fashion Gallery, a selection of costumes from past Catrina Contests. It is sponsored by the Old Town San Diego Chamber of Commerce, the Boosters of Old Town and the Arts in California Parks program. The gallery is a good look at what the November 1 contest is likely to bring.
La Experiencia at Fiesta de Reyes. This free, family-friendly display has run since September 1 and continues through November 2. It is the part of the celebration best suited to an evening visit. The plaza's weekly entertainment schedule lists Mariachi Divinas on Wednesdays and Thursdays, folklórico on Fridays alongside Los Trinos Mariachi Fusion, and Los Trinos with Luis Max & Blue Moon on Saturdays. Performances run from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. depending on the day. Fiesta de Reyes suggests confirming current hours before you go.
Old Town says self-guided altar maps will keep updating as local businesses and museums finish their altars. A visit on October 27 can show you more than one on October 22, and both are calmer than October 31.
The finale, day by day
From October 31 through November 2, the park's programming runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The days differ mainly in their extras.
| Day | Hours | What's added |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, Oct 31 | Park 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; mercado 11 a.m.–6 p.m. | Hands-on art, sugar skull workshops, magic lantern shows, bilingual story time, mercado on San Diego Avenue and Harney Street |
| Sunday, Nov 1 | Park 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; mercado 11 a.m.–6 p.m. | All of Saturday, plus the 4th Annual Catrina Contest at 2 p.m. and the quilt raffle drawing |
| Monday, Nov 2 | Park 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; procession at 6 p.m. | Community Altar, then the candlelit procession down San Diego Avenue |
The mercado hours above come from San Diego MTS's event listing. Old Town describes the mercado as art, crafts and Día de los Muertos goods along San Diego Avenue and Harney Street.
A few weekend details stand out in the State Parks program:
- Sugar skull workshops with artist Carolina Celaya in the Plaza de Armas cost $10 per skull and are open to all ages. The skulls are decorative, not edible.
- Magic lantern shows by Matt Schnittker run 15 to 20 minutes at Seeley Stable Theatre, on the half hour starting at 10:30 a.m. The program bills them as a Halloween show, which suits a finale that opens on October 31.
- Bilingual story time from the San Diego Public Library takes place Saturday and Sunday in the La Casa de Estudillo garden, with an afternoon session at 2:30 p.m. and an earlier session that the program lists at "12:30 a.m."; confirm that time with State Parks.
- Hands-on art with State Parks interpreters, including paper flowers and papel picado, is free from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both weekend days. Donations go to the Boosters of Old Town.
- The Catrina Contest on Sunday at 2 p.m. starts with the children's category and then moves to the adult category. The mourning quilt raffle drawing follows. Raffle tickets are $1 each or six for $5.
The Community Altar
All three days of the finale, the Plaza de Armas hosts a seven-tiered Community Altar from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. State Parks invites visitors to bring a photo of someone they have lost and attach it with a safety pin. Photos and tokens left on the altar are not returned. Visitors can also decorate a wooden butterfly with the person's name for a hanging installation beside the altar, with a suggested $5 donation.
If you plan to bring a photo, bring a copy. Weekday hours in October do not include the Community Altar, so this is the one part of the celebration that requires a finale-day visit.
Monday night on San Diego Avenue
The candlelit procession starts at 6 p.m. on Monday, November 2, at Immaculate Conception Church, with blessings and traditional dances by Danza Azteca Atlachinolli. It then moves down San Diego Avenue to El Campo Santo Cemetery. State Parks describes the route as running from Twiggs Street to El Campo Santo, hosted by the Old Town Chamber of Commerce. Spectators can watch on the main stage screen in the plaza or line San Diego Avenue.
Groups that want to walk in the procession have to apply. Old Town is asking for non-motorized floats such as pushcarts, wagons, wheelbarrows and strollers, decorated with candles and marigolds. For most neighbors, joining means standing along the avenue.
Washington Street is the reason to leave the car at home
SANDAG's Washington Street and Mission Valley Complete Streets project is under construction. It is the third of four segments in the Uptown Complete Streets program, and its 3.3-mile scope includes separated bike facilities from the Washington Street Trolley Station to University Avenue, connecting Middletown and Mission Hills. The plan adds a walking path on the south side of Washington Street from India Street to University Avenue and a bus island on the north side near India Street. It also adds separated bike facilities on San Diego Avenue from Washington Street to Pringle Street and buffered bike lanes from Pringle Street to Noell Street. Preliminary construction started in fall 2025, and SANDAG's schedule runs through 2027.
On September 20, 2026, NBC 7 reported that West Washington Street near Old Town had been reduced to one lane while crews built the new bike path, and that SANDAG expected the project to finish next year. SANDAG also posts night-work notices for intersections such as Hancock Street and Washington Street on the project page, so check it before the finale weekend.
Parking at the park adds to the problem. During the event, every California State Parks lot charges a parking fee, and Lot F is closed. Overflow parking is at the Caltrans lot on Taylor Street. State Parks gives the address as 4300 Taylor Street, while Old Town lists 4050 Taylor Street and says the lot is free after 5 p.m. on weekday evenings and all day on weekends.
From Middletown, these options avoid most of that:
- Take the trolley. Old Town Transit Center at 4009 Taylor Street is served by the Blue and Green Line trolleys, local buses, the Coaster and the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, and State Parks recommends transit because it expects heavy traffic. The Washington Street Trolley Station is already the western anchor of the new bikeway.
- Go on a weeknight first. Fiesta de Reyes and the park exhibitions are open before the finale, so the weekend can be just for the Community Altar, the Catrina Contest or the procession.
- For the procession, arrive before 6 p.m. and stay on foot. The route runs down San Diego Avenue, so a car parked near it is likely to stay put until the crowd clears.
Once the project is finished, a Middletown resident will have a dedicated walking path along Washington Street and protected bike facilities on San Diego Avenue, the same avenue the procession uses. This year, construction is still underway, and the trolley is the easiest way to get to Old Town.
For more on the stretch of India Street that Middletown residents walk every day, see our walking radius guide and the Middletown neighborhood page.
Owners near the Washington Street corridor will be living with this construction through 2027, and then with the new walking path, bus island and bike connections once it is finished. Emerson Group tracks how infrastructure projects like this one affect day-to-day use and long-term value on central San Diego blocks. If you own property near Washington Street or San Diego Avenue and want to think through what the finished project means for it, schedule a Wealth Call.
