Festivities for the 10th annual free Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) Community Celebration, the Museum of Ventura County’s most popular event, will be held in their new plaza and pavilion at 100 E. Main Street in Ventura, on Saturday, October 30, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Amid music and dancing, children and adults of all ages can transform themselves into skeletons at the face painting booths, have their pictures taken, and try traditional crafts, such as decorating sugar skulls and creating papel picado banners, paper skeletons, and tissue paper flowers. The focus of the museum’s celebration is the importance of the arts, and creating art that celebrates the memory of those the living have lost.

The entire museum is free that day and open until 6 p.m. Inside the galleries, the exhibition Altars & Art, created by local artists, schools, and community groups, will be on display. Traditionally, colorful Day of the Dead altars (ofrendas) are built to honor departed relatives and friends, and include objects they enjoyed in their lifetimes. Altars & Art runs October 26 through November 5.

The festival of Día de los Muertos honors the dead who are said to come back to walk among the living on November 1 and 2. Celebrated in many parts of Mexico and Latin America, Día de los Muertos is now popular in the United States among Latinos and non-Latinos alike.

Humorous skulls (calaveras), and skeletons blithely going about worldly business, are the dominant symbols of Día de los Muertos, which has roots in pre-Columbian as well as Spanish religious beliefs.

For more information go to www.venturamuseum.org or 805) 653-0323.