Día de los Muertos in City of Lake Worth brings our entire region and cultures together in Central Palm Beach County.

As you’ll learn more about below, there is still some confusion about Halloween Day and Día de los Muertos. Although both events are within days of each other they are vastly different events as you will discover below. Halloween is coming up on Wednesday, October 31st and the Day of the Dead is the following Saturday, on November 3rd.

One can see that fashion and accessories are very important and waiting until the last minute to make a shopping trip to World Thrift is not a good idea. Starting this week World Thrift will become very busy especially with all the Snowbirds returning as well. The store is located at 2425 N. Dixie Hwy. in Lake Worth and doors open at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Lines form early so be prepared for that.

Learn more about World Thrift at the end of this blog post.

Día de los Muertos in L-Dub*
is everyone’s festival.

Shiny Sheet reporter Carla Trivino explains why
Día de los Muertos is so popular a little later.

If you were thinking about becoming a sponsor or a vendor for this year’s festival you should act quickly. Contact Emily Theodossakos, LULA’s Marketing Program Manager at 561-493-2550 or by email: etheodossakos@lakeworth.org 

Below are two excerpts from news published in The Palm Beach Post last year about this signature event in our City. But since then there is new news to report from the Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA) and LULA Lake Worth Arts.

The “Day of the Dead” originated in Central and South America but has taken on new significance here in this City of Lake Worth. The annual festival celebrates and honors human life from all parts of the globe and every continent. Lake Worth is indeed a “Welcoming City” and has been for a very long time. However, just recently the nearby city of West Palm Beach declared themselves a ‘Welcoming City’ as well.

Carla Trivino is a Mundo Hispánico reporter who also works at the Palm Beach Daily News (aka, “Shiny Sheet”). Trivino “covers fashion, while assisting society editor Shannon Donnelly in covering social and charity events on the island [the Town of Palm Beach].” To follow Trivino on Twitter click on this link.

Trivino penned what is arguably the best and most definitive news about the Lake Worth CRA’s annual Festival of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), what’s been referred to as “a festival like no other in South Florida”. The big news about this year’s festival is the addition of Viva La Vida honoring “the Souls of Children” in preparation for the Day of the Dead. Viva La Vida begins on October 20th and concludes with Día de los Muertos on Saturday, November 3rd.

For some reason there is still some confusion about Halloween and Día de los Muertos and maybe that comes from cultural and language differences. But here in Central Palm Beach County — because of the popularity of the “Day of the Dead” — there are no longer any misconceptions about these two annual events in the Fall [FYI: Halloween is in October. Over a month later is the annual festival of Día de los Muertos].

Following Día de los Muertos last year Trivino interviewed the creative director of the festival, Jose R. Mendez and below are two excerpts from that article published in November 2017: , which starts off with, “About 3,000 people took to the streets of downtown Lake Worth to celebrate their deceased loved ones. . .”:


     Mendez [creative director Jose Mendez at CRA] wanted the Day of the Dead celebration to be as original as possible, so he traveled to Mexico for inspiration. He described their celebration as the French Quarter times 10 [emphasis added; referencing downtown New Orleans] and wanted to bring that passion to Florida.
     He paired up with local commissioner Andy Amoroso [now Vice Mayor], LULA Lake Worth and the Lake Worth CRA, who helped provide over $14,000 in grant money for the event.
     “I’m fortunate to work with people that are as passionate as I am,” Mendez said.
     The organizers gave Mendez a lot of creative freedom. He was able to teach an altar workshop and exhibit the final products at the event. The altars or “ofrendas [offerings]” represented various countries like Guatemala, Mexico, Bolivia, Belize, Brazil and Puerto Rico. He said Hispanic countries tend to have some form of celebration of the dead even though they may not have the same name.

and. . .

     Mendez hopes the event keeps expanding. He wants to include West Coast artists for an authentic feel and more workshops for the community, including one for kids to learn about the significance of this holiday.
     “There’s still a big misconception between Halloween and the Day of the Dead,” he [Mendez] said.

Please take note:

Please start making plans now for all the upcoming festivities this Fall such as Halloween and the “Day of the Dead”.

One of biggest considerations this Fall will be clothing and accessories. And that’s a very big reason why you should start your preparations now by shopping at the famous and fashionable World Thrift located at 2425 N. Dixie Hwy. For more information about Senior Citizen Day (every Wednesday), the hours of operation, and Hipster fashion ideas at World Thrift click on this link.


*The term “L-Dub” originated in The Palm Beach Post. For more information click on this link.