Against the odds, Day of the Dead fest will live on this year — with some changes, including new Fort Lauderdale location

This year’s edition of Fort Lauderdale’s nationally ranked Day of the Dead festival is not dead.

It was touch-and-go there for a while, after historic floods that hit the city last April cost DOTD creator Jim Hammond his studio and many of the distinctive papier-mâché puppets that give the event its theatrical charm. 

But the sugar-skull show will go on: The 14th annual Florida Day of the Dead festival and parade will return on Saturday, Nov. 4, in a new location at Esplanade Park.

Hammond considered postponing the event until 2024 to allow time to repair and replace the puppets, but feedback from the local creative and business communities was a welcome reminder of what Day of the Dead means for the city, he says.

“I may be naive, but I think this is one of the most authentic, creative conversations that our community has,” he says. “I’m glad to be a catalyst to make it happen. It’s a pain in my a– (laughs), but I’m glad to be this person, to help the community connect in a real way.” 

For the most part, this edition of Florida Day of the Dead will be the same free event that put it on lists of the best Día de Los Muertos celebrations in the country by the  Travel Channel, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times.

The Folklorico Stage will showcase more than 100 performers offering indigenous and traditional folk dance and music from Mexico and across Latin America from 3 to 7 p.m. Sponsors include the Mexican American Council and the Consulate General of Mexico in Miami, Riverwalk Fort Lauderdale and Damn Good Hospitality Group.

Esplanade Park also will be home to Latin food trucks, crafts booths and kids’ activities, with artists on hand for sugar-skull face painting. Across the street, from 3 to 5 p.m., the atrium of the Museum of Discovery and Science will offer selfie opportunities with puppets from Hammond’s Puppet Network and the Puppet Guild of South Florida. 

Then at 6 p.m., the celebration’s iconic Skeleton Processional will commence for a stroll from the park to the traditional street party in front of Revolution Live and Backyard, a family-friendly gathering of music, vendors and more food trucks until 10 p.m.

Not everything will be as it was, of course. 

The flood that sent more than 3 feet of water into Hammond’s studio south of downtown Fort Lauderdale destroyed nearly half of the 40-plus puppets and oversized masks he uses in the Skeleton Processional. Two of the oldest and most iconic characters, the giant Bride and Groom figures, were among the casualties. 

Renovation work on the studio and his home nearby put planning for DOTD 2023 behind schedule. A fortuitous job offer working with puppets for the past six weeks on the national tour of “The Lion King” brought Hammond helpful “Disney money,” but further limited opportunities to work on Day of the Dead puppets and logistics. 

“In my mind, and in many conversations, I canceled it,” Hammond says. Talks with Riverwalk president/CEO Genia Duncan Ellis and Jarred John, co-owner of Damn Good Hospitality, helped change his mind. 

“They said, ‘Jim, this is too important for our community and we will do whatever it takes to help you through this and to make it happen again,’” Hammond says. “Hell, if we can do an event during the pandemic, we can do it after a flood.”

Hammond has been mulling ways to maintain the signature energy of the Skeleton Processional in lieu of the missing puppets. 

Which feels like a great opportunity for fans of the event to help by creating their own puppets and masks, or planning more elaborate costumes. It’s the participation of the public at Day of the Dead that has always inspired special memories for Hammond. (For tips, see Fort Lauderdale Day of the Dead for dummies: A guide to joining the parade.)

“What would benefit the procession is for any person or group that connects with a particular visual or performing arts medium, that they connect that to the Day of the Dead aesthetic and traditions and bring out what ya got,” he says. 

If you’re a musician and want to put a strolling band together to play music from the “Coco” soundtrack, Hammond would love it. If you’re an art teacher looking for a project for Hispanic Heritage Month and your class can create sugar-skull masks to wear in the parade, he’d be overjoyed. 

Simple is often better, Hammond says. Among his favorite costumes are the walking “ofrendas,” altars to dead loved ones, with some paraders wearing a “cigarette girl” party tray filled with mementoes and LED candles.

“But it can be as simple as a photo, a little memorial, that you hold in your hand or wear around your neck,” Hammond says. “It’s about remembering.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Florida Day of the Dead

WHEN: 3-10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4

WHERE: Through Fort Lauderdale, beginning at Esplanade Park, 400 SW Second St., and concluding with a street party outside the Revolution Live complex, 100 SW Third Ave.

COST: Admission is free

INFORMATION: DayOfTheDeadFlorida.com

Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.