A Free Park Day in the Mission District Since 1992
The Marigold Project stages the Day of the Dead Festival of Altars at Potrero Del Sol Park in San Francisco. The organiser also names the same site La Raza Park.
The organisation dates the festival to 1992. It says a Mexican immigrant woman and a group of marginalized creators designed it in San Francisco.
The park day sits inside a year-round programme. The Marigold Project also produces the Ritual Poetry Circle in the same park and the After Dark Murmuration at the Exploratorium. Donations fund the signature festival and the workshops, artists, musicians, playwrights and poets the organisation pays.
The organisation describes itself as rooted in the Indigenous and Latinx community in San Francisco's Mission District. Its altars draw on more than 2,500 years of Mesoamerican traditions, it says. It operates as a 501(c)(3) fiscally sponsored by Intersection for the Arts.
Five Community Altars at the Middle of the Programme
Five altars carry the park. The organiser publishes East, South, West, North and Center altars and assigns each one an element and a geometric symbol. Air sits in the East, fire in the South, water in the West and earth in the North. The Center altar carries the spiral.
The festival page lists four attendance elements: community-built altars, live performances, interactive art and craft stations, and cultural ceremonies. LA GENTE SF, the band the organiser books for the day, describes the same programme.
A group can request an altar slot. The organiser takes requests through the signup form linked from the festival page and through info@themarigoldproject.org. Name and organization plaques carry a published cap of 12 inches long by 4 inches tall. The guidelines label the event noncommercial.
The Clock a Group Schedules Around
Installation begins at 8am. The ceremony begins at high noon, published as 12pm. Entertainment begins at 5pm and runs to 9pm. Clean-up begins promptly at 10pm.
The set-up window runs 8am to 2pm, and the organiser asks that each altar stand by 2pm where possible. The published span from the 8am installation start to the 10pm clean-up start is 14 hours.
Admission Terms a Group Budget Can Carry
Admission carries no fee. The organiser answers its own fee question with a flat no and calls the festival free and open to the public. The band's own listing labels the event Free, Suggested Donation, and carries a ticket link.
Alcohol is not allowed during the event. The guidelines tie that rule to a stated aim of cutting down police intervention. The organiser describes the event as family-friendly, alcohol-free and designed for all ages, and states that it is fully accessible to all attendees.
The free terms hold a ticket line and a bar line off a group budget. The organiser publishes no parking term, no meal term and no room rate, so those lines come from the group's own planning.
What the Organiser Leaves Open
The organiser publishes no attendance figure. It names no lodging partner, no room block and no shuttle service. A group that wants rooms near the park works from its own numbers.
The organiser's pages carry no procession. A separate Mission procession runs under a different organisation, El Colectivo del Rescate Cultural, and publishes mainly through social media. No route or date is quotable at a page.
The street address comes off the band's listing: 2827 Cesar Chavez Street, San Francisco. The organiser's own pages give the park name and the city.
The Date a Group Has to Reconcile
The Marigold Project's home page and festival page both carry November 2, 2025. The organisation's pages carry no 2026 date, so its own site has not been refreshed for the current edition.
The band the organiser books carries the current edition on its own domain. The LA GENTE SF listing gives Monday, November 2, 2026, at Potrero Del Sol Park.
November 2, 2025 falls on a Sunday. November 2, 2026 falls on a Monday. A group itinerary that needs a Sunday park window has to confirm the edition before it holds rooms.