‘Day of the Dead’ brings crowd to YMCA in Medina
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Alma de México does a folkloric dance on Saturday during a Day of the Dead celebration at the Orleans County YMCA.
The event was co-sponsored by GO Art!, the YMCA, Mariachi de Oro Mexican Grill, and Maizal Mexican Kitchen.
There were 325 people at the event in the first two hours of the four-hour celebration. They were on pace of surpassing last year’s record crowd of 425 for the event.
Carys Dumitrescu of Penfield gets her face painted by Dan Butler, an artist from Perry.
There were at least four artists doing face painting. There also were Mexican crafts, dance and music performances, ofrenda displays, and food tastings.
An ofrenda was created by Lionel Rosario and his wife Delores Alvarado, and the display drew many onlookers.
The Mexican Day of the Dead Celebration (Mexican Día de los Muertos) is a time of joyful remembrance of deceased loved ones, filled with an array of colors, scents, sounds and stories, said Karen Canning, director of GLOW Traditions at GO Art!
An ofrenda is an altar that is typically in homes. The altars welcome returning souls and feature candles, wild marigolds, incense, photographs, mementos and loved ones’ favorite foods like fruit, tortillas, tamales, chocolate and bread.
There was also a community ofrenda where people could place a an electric candle and write a remembrance of loved ones.
Many people wrote notes remembering their loved ones.
Mary Lou Tuohey and her daughter Nicole of Caee-Nic Cookies made these frosted cookies for the Day of the Dead. The skulls are used to honor the dead.
Other hosts and volunteers came from Della’s Chocolates, The Downtown Browsery, Oak Orchard Girl Scouts, Orleans Head Start, and Medina High School students. Canalside Tattoos offered temporary tattoos. Las Toxicas had Mexican jewelry and clothing. Candy Creations Facepaint of Medina hosted face painting, and Mariachi de Oro will provided samples of Mexican hot chocolate and pan de muerto (bread of the dead), a typical food of the holiday. Maizal Mexican Kitchen had several items for sale, including tamales, fruit with tajin, and snacks.
