Marigolds, sugar skulls and candlelit altars are filling one of California's oldest neighborhoods this weekend. Old Town San Diego State Historic Park opens its Día de los Muertos celebration on Saturday and keeps it going through Monday, Nov. 2.

The festival is free and open to all ages. Saturday's hours run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with live music on the main stage to start the day.

Día de los Muertos is one of the most meaningful holidays in Mexico and across Latin America. Families build ofrendas for loved ones who have died and decorate them with photos, favorite foods and bright cempasúchil flowers. The celebration treats remembrance as a joyful act rather than a sad one.

Altars, dancers and art

Visitors will find community altars throughout the park along with folklórico dancers, parades, face painting and hands-on crafts. Thousands of marigolds will line the paths and historic buildings.

Art takes a bigger role this year. Two installations inside the park's U.S. House Museum feature fashion and artwork inspired by La Catrina, the elegant skeleton figure that has become a worldwide symbol of the holiday. At the Captain Fitch Museum students from San Diego Unified schools are showing their own work about the traditions they are carrying forward.

A neighborhood built on many cultures

The park tells the story of how San Diego grew from a Kumeyaay village into a Mexican pueblo and then an American town. Its restored adobe buildings now hold museums, shops and restaurants along with a working blacksmith shop.

Organizers say the weekend is about art, tradition and coming together as a community. Free parking is available two blocks away and the park sits next to the Old Town Transit Center for trolley and bus riders. Leashed dogs are welcome outdoors but not inside the museums.