The New York Botanical Garden opens its first Día de los Muertos celebration today, October 3, and runs it through November 2, 2026. The centerpiece is a multi-tiered community ofrenda just outside the entrance to the Everett Children's Adventure Garden. On opening day only part of that altar is finished. Bronx artist Blanka Amezkua curates the top three tiers, and the two large bottom tiers are left for visitors to fill with their own items of remembrance. So the altar on the November 2 closing day will look different from the one you can see this weekend, and the difference comes from whoever walks up to it over the next month.
That changes how you plan a visit. Most of the people shaping the celebration are New York City artists, the programming shifts from weekend to weekend, and the most important practical question for a Bronx household is which ticket gets you in.
Five Tiers, Two of Them Open
The Garden's own description is plain about how the altar works. You can add a photograph or a written memory to the communal display. Visitors can bring items from home or make something on site at a nearby Remembrance Table.
NYBG lists the ground rules on the event page:
- Anything you contribute becomes part of the installation and will not be returned.
- Offerings of food and candles are not permitted.
- Photographs and written memories are welcome.
The first rule matters most. If the photo you have in mind is the only copy, make a print before you go.
Past the altar, the trail through the Everett Children's Adventure Garden has papel picado banners overhead, calavera vignettes, and aluminum skeletons. It also has marigold and dahlia plantings and a larger-than-life Catrina dressed in flowers. The large cut-out alebrijes, the spirit-guide creatures of Mexican folk art, are an owl, a squirrel, a hawk, and a rabbit. NYBG says they were based on wildlife found at the Garden itself. They were drawn by Edgar Flores, the Mexican street artist known as Saner, whose work draws on pre-Hispanic iconography and nahual folklore.
The installation is built around the link between plants, pollinators, and memory. Monarch butterflies run through it. NYBG notes that in many Indigenous Mexican traditions, the monarchs' arrival during the holiday season is associated with the return of ancestral spirits. The marigolds have a job too. NYBG's materials describe cempasúchil, the Mexican marigold also called Flor de Muerto, as the flower that adorns altars and guides ancestors home.
Most of the Builders Work Within a Subway Ride
The altar's open tiers fit the way the program was staffed. A large share of the people bringing it to life are based in the city.
Blanka Amezkua, who curates the ofrenda, is a Mexican-American contemporary artist living in the Bronx. She also leads the papel picado and silk-flower workshops and the skull-mask making at the finale. The weekend music comes from Son Pecadores, a New York collective of jaraneros who play son jarocho, the folk style from Veracruz. Jasmín Durán, the clinical herbalist and urban grower who teaches the cempasúchil dye workshop, is based in New York City and runs the herbal project meztli medicinals.
At the finale, the Bronx Children's Museum leads a storytime, and crochet artist Carmen Paulino, known for yarn installations in public spaces around the city, runs a workshop. The cumbia sonidera class is taught by Mark Saldana, known as CoolMarx, who was born and raised in Queens and now works out of Brooklyn. MAZarte Dance Company, choreographed by Martha Zárate-Alvarez and Noé Domínguez, runs educational programs for New York City communities. Internationally known puppet artist Lucrecia Novoa of Mascara Viva made the giant Catrina, skeleton, and monarch puppets specifically for NYBG.
Because these performers rotate, the celebration has no single representative day. A visit on a Tuesday afternoon and a visit on the Sunday of the parade show you two different things.
The Calendar Decides What You See
The installation is up for the whole run. Everything else comes and goes. NYBG's schedule breaks down like this:
| When | What's on | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday–Friday, 1:30–5 p.m. | Mariposas and Marigolds kids' activities, including marigold potting and a story trail | Everett Children's Adventure Garden |
| Weekends in October, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. (Oct. 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25), plus Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, 1–5 p.m. | Papel picado and silk-flower workshops with Blanka Amezkua | Grounds |
| Same October weekends, sets at 11 a.m., 12 p.m., and 1 p.m. | Son Pecadores | Entrance to Everett Children's Adventure Garden |
| Sunday, Oct. 18, 1–3 p.m. | Cempasúchil dye workshop with Jasmín Durán | Drop-in, while supplies last |
| Oct. 24 and 25, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. | Monarch puppets | Roaming the Children's Adventure Garden |
| Saturday, Oct. 31, 2–3 p.m. | Mini clay alebrijes and storytime with the Bronx Children's Museum, ages 4 to 10 | Grounds |
| Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, 1–5 p.m. | MAZarte folk dance every half-hour | Select locations |
| Oct. 31, Nov. 1, Nov. 2, 1–5 p.m. | La Catrina and skeleton puppets | Roaming the grounds |
| Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 1, 3, and 4 p.m. | Bilingual Birdies sing-along in Spanish and English | Circle Grass Area |
The weekday activities in the children's garden run every Tuesday through Friday. The story trail features The Ofrenda That We Built by Jolene and Shaian Gutiérrez. On the weekends of October 31 and November 1, the Bilingual Birdies concert also invites families to bring photos of loved ones who have died. That makes the closing weekend the busiest stretch for the altar's open tiers.
Sunday, November 1 runs as its own sequence on Daffodil Hill:
- 1 p.m.: wearable-art crafts to prepare for the procession
- 2 p.m.: the parade, led by Son Pecadores musicians and dancers along with Mascara Viva's Catrina, skeleton, and monarch puppets
- 2:30 p.m.: MAZarte on the Daffodil Hill Main Stage
- 3:15 p.m.: the cumbia sonidera class with CoolMarx and dancers Kacia and Cinthya
- 3:30 to 5 p.m.: dance party, fandango with Son Pecadores, food, and crafts
If the weather is bad that day, NYBG will cancel the 2 p.m. procession and keep all the other activities going. Monday, November 2 is the closing day and the date most associated with the holiday. NYBG has scheduled programming that day even though the Garden's regular hours are Tuesday through Sunday plus select Monday holidays. Mommy Poppins listed the run as ending November 1. NYBG's own event page and its September 29 press release both give November 2.
Where the Pumpkins Went
If you've been to NYBG in past Octobers, you'll remember a different kind of fall. In 2024 the Garden branded its season Fall-O-Ween and ran it from September 28 to October 27. That year's Pumpkin Promenade displayed giant pumpkins from October 21 to 29, and Adam Bierton carved them on October 26 and 27. NYBG's 2025 fall announcement listed a pumpkin carve-off on October 18 and giant-pumpkin carving from October 23 to 26.
The 2026 fall materials don't announce a similar pumpkin series, and they don't say the old one was retired. In this year's installation, pumpkins appear as part of the setting along with the marigolds and fall foliage. The fall release does include an October 3 watercolor class on ornamental pumpkins. Jennifer Bernstein, NYBG's chief executive, called Día de los Muertos "this new fall experience at NYBG" and said it shows the tradition "through horticulture, art, and community." The October anchor moved from carving to commemoration, and it now centers on the same children's garden that hosted the 2024 Scarecrows & Pumpkins activities.
The Pass Question for Bronx Households
Since the altar and its trail are outdoors at the Everett Children's Adventure Garden, you might expect the Garden's free and discounted outdoor passes to cover it. NYBG's published terms don't settle that either way.
- All-Garden Pass. It covers exhibitions plus all outdoor collections. Adults pay $35 on weekdays and $39 on weekends. Seniors and students pay $31 and $35, children pay $15 and $17, and children under 2 are free. This is the one pass with clear, published coverage of Día de los Muertos.
- NYC Resident Grounds Access Pass. It costs $15 for adults, $7 for students and seniors, and $4 for children 2 to 12. It's sold on site only, with proof of residency. NYBG says it includes the Everett Children's Adventure Garden and excludes special exhibitions. On Wednesdays, grounds admission is free all day for NYC residents.
- Bronx Neighbors Program. It gives free daytime access to the outdoor gardens Tuesday through Sunday and on holiday Mondays, with proof of Bronx residency. Tickets are available at any NYBG ticket window, and online or mailed requests to a Bronx address are capped at six tickets. It excludes the Haupt Conservatory, indoor exhibitions, special events, evening events, and parking.
The ticket link on the Día de los Muertos page offers a Bronx Neighbor option next to the All-Garden Pass. The Bronx Times listing gave a price range of $15 to $39. NYBG itself hasn't said whether the installation or the November 1 parade counts as a "special event" or "special exhibition" under the grounds-pass exclusions. Before you go, call ticket support at 718.817.8716 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., or email [email protected]. It's a quick question, and for a household of six it can make a real difference in cost.
At Cotler Real Estate, Yitzhak Cotler keeps track of what's opening and changing across the Bronx, from Bronx Park to the blocks around it. If you're weighing a move in the borough or wondering what your home is worth this fall, let's connect.
