On Friday night, colorful flags, the smell of sage and classic songs like “La Llorona” all floated in the air.

Eduardo Romero was circled up with other Día de Muertos event volunteers just as the street party in Bend was getting started. They were about to hold the first and, possibly, only public Latino cultural event of the year in Central Oregon.

“Seeing everybody here now, seeing everybody interested in the food,” Romero said, “seeing the paper picado flap in the wind, it’s all very beautiful.”

After other large public Latino cultural celebrations in Central Oregon were cancelled this year because of fears about federal immigration enforcement actions, Día de Muertos in Bend carried on.

It was the only event of the year for people to publicly gather and celebrate Latinidad in all its permutations. Latino communities across the state and country have been targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers since the Trump administration began in January, causing many Latino people to live in fear and pull back from attending large events.

But this time, organizers decided they needed to push back and give Latinos a place to connect.

Hundreds of people filtered in and out of a closed-off block in downtown Bend. Tacos El Nava’s taqueros plated taco after taco, along with burritos and quesadillas, while people enjoyed cultural performances and sang along to mariachi staples like “El Rey.”

Romero was born and raised in Bend. He said there have been smaller, private Día de Muertos events, but none this big and open to the public.

“We were going back and forth on whether we should or shouldn’t do it,” he said, but after other events like Latino Fest were canceled, “we decided that our people needed this.”

Día de Muertos is an Indigenous celebration from Mexico that honors the dead and familial ancestors. The tradition is a central part of Mexican culture. The theme for this year’s Bend celebration, “Dignidad en la vida y la muerte,” or “Dignity in life and death,” was meant to allow Mexican people and Latinos to celebrate the tradition and participate in joyful resistance against fear.

Emily Chavez was a lead organizer for the event. She’s also a DACA recipient who was born in Mexico and raised in Central Oregon.

As the daughter of immigrants, she said it was important for her to “show up and show out.”

During event planning, she said she and her fellow organizers were terrified that ICE agents would show up at the event and detain people.

At the celebration, community members came together to help patrol for ICE and people who attempted to disrupt the event. One man began shouting, “I don’t like this sh–,” as he walked through the street.

Volunteers swiftly followed him as he moved toward the exit, while coordinating with others over the radio.

Central Oregon organizations showed up to help keep the event safe, Chavez said. The Latino Community Association brought legal observers and provided people with information on their rights, in case ICE arrived. The Central Oregon Peacekeepers, a group formed by racial justice protestors in 2020, also volunteered to monitor the event and de-escalate potential altercations.

“It’s important to honor the dead by fighting for the living,” Chavez said. For her and other organizers, that looked like throwing a big block party to give people a place to celebrate their culture together without fear.

Karla Díaz Cano was a vendor and performer at the event. She’s from Mexico City and said for a moment, time stopped, and she was transported to Mexico, dancing to cumbia and surrounded by her culture.

“This is what it’s like there, all the time,” she said. “I’m definitely in my happy place right now.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/12/honor-the-dead-dia-de-muertos-bend-oregon/