The Dia de los Muertos Celebration held at the Northfield Armory was a big success. The turnout was estimated at “over 350” by Douglas Padilla and “maybe 500” by Theresa Whitesong. Factoids: over 200 meals were provided by a group from the St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, and they were gone in less about 1 hour. We went through about 240 cans of pop plus gallons of hot chocolate and coffee. Here is a photoset of the event.

At one point the fire alarm went off on a false alarm which locked out the natural gas supply to the stove in the kitchen, so the group had to contend with heating the tortillas on an electric hotplate. Someone ran home to get an additional electric hotplate which turned out to be a Norwegian lefse hotplate. True story!

The important thing is that everyone had a great time and many people were happy and excited. Oliva, daughter of Dan Riggens and Catherine Dominguez, asked her parents at one point “if this is what it is like in Mexico?” and also Father Dempsey told about some nice conversations he had about the traditional observance of Dia de los Muertos in Vera Cruz.

People danced, talked and socialized.

The long print provided a nice backdrop to the event and ringed the “drill floor” or basketball court in the Armory on two sides. The print then traveled to St. Dominic’s Catholic Church and was on display in the O’Gara Social Hall outside the sanctuary for the bilingual mass on Nov. 2. The print then went to Buntrock Commons at St. Olaf College and was displayed there for two days. The long print is considered number 1 of 5 in our edition, and entire print set is documented here in some detail.

ArtOrg would like to thank the many, many people who helped make these events a reality:

Sawdust art and organization: Faustino, Marco, Ivan, and others
Ofrenda: Tina O’Brien and Xavier Tavera
Translations: Linda Burwell, Lori Rosmiller
Lighting, construction: Alvin Ho, Myrl Dahl
Armory event personnel: Erica Hoffmann and Alan Winsor
Food and drink: The group from St. Dominic’s and Goodbye Blue Monday.
College publicity: Erica, Monica, Margerita and Nicolina of LASO, Bill Green, Lynn Stenstrom
Local supporters: Marg Evans-de-Carpio, Amy Garza Colin, Jim Blaha, Theresa Whitesong, Father Denny Dempsey
Video and photography: Paul Krause, Greg Mattern, Bob Anderson, Dan Iverson of the Northfield News, Vance Gellert, Luigi Sison, Tina O’Brien, Paul Hager
Steamroller helpers: Joyce Francis, Alvin Ho, Keeny Swearer, Abby Vaughn, Suzy, Mike, Wendy Smith, David Drentlaw, Marybeth and Meredith Fredrick, Chris Schommer, Ron Wolfe, Jonathan, Natasha Pestich, and Fred Hagstrom (who suggested we go with the big steamroller)
100-foot-print helpers: about 100 individuals, too numerous to list, thank you!
Music: Los Jefes, Jose Curbelo,
Special gallery art thanks: Dawn Zero Erickson, Luis Fitch, Douglas Padilla, and Claudia Baca.
Sponsors (special recognition): Helen Preddy, Jim Egbert, Bill Laurie Tim and Carol Cowles.
Sponsors: First National Bank of Northfield, Community Resource Bank, The Anderson Center in Red Wing, The Art Store, Circa, Chapati, The Contented Cow, Will Healy
Thanks to: Taylor Trucking, Greg Langer at Northfield Tractor and Equipment, Mark Graue of Lamperts, Goodbye Blue Monday, Peter Diggens and Gordon O.
The ArtOrg Board of Directors: James Schlichting, Board President, Mark Fries, Secretary
Robert Anderson, Scott King, Kory Kohrs, Sharon Lessard, Greg Mattern, Catherine McBride, Cora Scholz, Elizabeth See, Rick Swearer, Anne Vogelwede
Special thanks to Mark, Mim, Tracy at Mueller-Dahl Remodeling for the use of their facilities and parking lot!
Thanks to the artists of the big print: Claudia “Billy” Baca, Kendall Bohn, Paloma Barhaugh-Bordas, Anselmo Cornejo, Betto Limón, Gustavo Lira, Steven “Nuno” Nuñez, Maria Christina O’Brien, Douglas Padilla, Juan Jose Palacios, Christina Perez, Richard Swearer, and Xavier Tavera.

And of course a big special thanks to Kari Alberg, Marco Flores, Xavier Tavera and Douglas Padilla, and the general openness of everyone without which this could never have happened.