The Day in Five Published Starts
The Marigold Project runs the Day of the Dead Festival of Altars at Potrero Del Sol Park in San Francisco. The organiser also names the site La Raza Park. The published day opens with an 8am installation and closes with a clean-up that begins at 10pm.
The organisation dates the festival to 1992 and describes it as designed in San Francisco by a Mexican immigrant woman and a group of marginalized creators. The FAQ states that all are welcome to participate in the sharing of culture, healing and the celebration of the lives of our ancestors.
Five starts carry the clock. Installation begins at 8am. The ceremony begins at high noon. Entertainment begins at 5pm. Clean-up begins promptly at 10pm. The set-up window closes at 2pm.
The full published span runs 14 hours from the 8am installation start to the 10pm clean-up start. A visitor who wants the ceremony, the entertainment and the clear plans a long park day.
Check-In at the Information Table
The Information Table sits at the benches in front of the playground. The organiser asks altar builders to check in there and to help build the event. A concern raised by a police officer, a ranger or another attendee goes to the same table.
Five altars carry the site. The organiser publishes East, South, West, North and Center altars, each with an element and a symbol. The festival page invites attendees to bring mementos of loved ones to the community altars.
Altar space is reserved ahead of the day. The signup form on the festival page and info@themarigoldproject.org both take requests.
The Set-Up Window
Set-up runs 8am to 2pm. The organiser asks that each altar stand by 2pm where possible and notes that some participants come from work.
The ceremony starts at high noon, published as 12pm, inside the set-up window. A builder who intends to attend the ceremony schedules the last altar work around that start.
What to Carry In
The FAQ answers the carry-in question with photos, candles, flowers and personal mementos. The festival page names flowers, 8-inch glass prayer candles and mementos of loved ones for the community altars.
Candles carry a stated preference. The guidelines ask for LED candles and accept wax candles for decoration and illumination. Water must be present at each altar, with a minimum of one gallon.
Ground Rules That Change the Packing List
The organiser bans amplified sound, fire, staking and digging. Irrigation lines sit under the grass. The site supplies no electricity, so a group that needs power brings a silent generator and notifies the organiser in advance.
Only string may be hung from the trees. The organiser rules out tacking and nailing into them. The playground stays open to children and to the adults supervising them, and it takes no altars and no candles.
Name and organization plaques cap at 12 inches long by 4 inches tall. Alcohol is not allowed during the event, and the guidelines label the event noncommercial.
Closing the Park
Clean-up begins promptly at 10pm. The park and its trash collectors fine the organiser for anything left behind or placed in the wrong bin. The organisation asks participants to know where the trash, compost and recycle bins sit before set-up.
Usable art materials and candles can go instead to Scraps, a nonprofit store at 801 Toland Street, San Francisco 94124, entered at Newcomb. It takes donations Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 4pm.
The organiser publishes no attendance figure, no shuttle and no lodging partner, so a group plans its own transport and its own rooms.
The Two Published Dates
The Marigold Project's home page and festival page carry November 2, 2025. The organisation's pages carry no 2026 date, so its own site has not been refreshed for the current edition.
LA GENTE SF, the band the organiser books, carries the current edition on its own domain. That listing gives Monday, November 2, 2026, a 5pm to 9pm performance window and the park address at 2827 Cesar Chavez Street, San Francisco.
November 2, 2025 falls on a Sunday and November 2, 2026 falls on a Monday. An itinerary built on the current edition starts from the Monday date and from the 5pm entertainment start.