This Hispanic Heritage Month, we are proud to be spotlighting El Velorio, one of Los Angeles' largest Day of the Dead festivals, now celebrating its 16th anniversary, and the artist who built it from the ground up, Antonio Pelayo.

What Is El Velorio?

El Velorio was founded in Los Angeles in 2010 by artist and cultural producer Antonio Pelayo. After years of exhibiting his own artwork and curating shows in small galleries and unconventional spaces, Pelayo envisioned something larger. So, he started El Velorio, a gathering where art, music, culture and community could exist under one roof, while honoring the traditions and spirit of Día de los Muertos.

What started in 2010 with roughly 500 attendees and 20-25 artists has grown into a citywide celebration drawing around 5,000 people each year, with over 200 artists exhibiting in this year's show alone, including headliners Nikko Hurtado, Carlos Torres, Allan Padilla, Nichos, and Steve Butcher.

This year's celebration takes place on October 10th at the iconic Plaza De La Raza. Tickets and more information about the event can be found here.

About Día de los Muertos

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a Mexican tradition observed each year on November 1st and 2nd. Rather than mourning loss only through sorrow, the holiday honors those who have passed through remembrance, beauty, storytelling and celebration. Families speak the names of loved ones who have died, display their photographs, prepare the foods they loved, and share their stories so they're never forgotten.

At the center of the tradition is the ofrenda, an altar built to honor the dead. Traditionally filled with photographs, candles, marigolds, food and personal keepsakes, an ofrenda turns memory into something physical, a way of saying: you were here, you mattered, and you are still part of us.

The holiday is also about more than individual loss. It's about ancestry, identity and cultural memory, honoring the generations whose sacrifices and traditions shaped the communities we live in today.

Why the Name El Velorio?

The name "El Velorio" means a wake or vigil, a place where families traditionally gather in the presence of death. Stories are exchanged, and tears and laughter can occupy the same room. That emotional balance, holding grief and celebration at once, is central to both Día de los Muertos and to El Velorio itself.

El Velorio takes that intimacy and opens it to an entire city. Instead of just one family building a single altar, at El Velorio, hundreds of artists, musicians and community members bring their own offerings, building what becomes a living, collective ofrenda.

For Antonio, one of the most important things about this event is community. He told us “When I started El Velorio, I wanted to create the kind of space I wished existed for artists like me. A place where established artists and someone showing their work for the very first time could share the same walls," he says. "I don't look at El Velorio as something that belongs only to me anymore. It belongs to the community that helped build it."

El Velorio Today, 16 Years Later

Sixteen years later, El Velorio has grown from a few hundred guests into one of Los Angeles' largest Día de los Muertos celebrations. Antonio still produces the festival, co-curates the art show, and organizes the event from the ground up. He continues to create his own work as well, with pieces now held in institutions like the Smithsonian and MOLAA alongside private collectors. Check out some of his work here!

We asked Antonio what this anniversary meant to him, and he shared, "Sixteen years later, I see it as an offering, an offering to our ancestors, our artists, our city, our culture, and the generations that will come after us."

He described what he expects to feel walking through the doors this year. "I'm not going to see just another event," he says. "I'm going to see sixteen years of memories. Sixteen years of artists being given a wall. Sixteen years of people honoring those they love. Sixteen years of Mexican and Chicano culture being celebrated proudly in Los Angeles. Sixteen years of community." For Antonio, El Velorio is proof that when you create something with purpose and give people a place where they feel they belong, they'll help carry it forward.

"Being part of the 16th anniversary is an honor, but it's also a responsibility," Antonio says, "to respect what we built, remember why we started, and make sure the next generation has the opportunity to take it even further."

We are honored to be a part of this year's celebration. Find KANHA at El Velorio on October 10th at the Plaza De La Raza. Tickets available here!