Día de los Muertos in Chicago, 2026
Día de los Muertos falls on Sunday, Nov. 1 and Monday, Nov. 2 this year, and two Chicago neighborhoods carry most of the celebration: Pilsen, along 18th Street, and Little Village, along 26th Street. This guide covers what is on this week, where to buy pan de muerto, and where to shop for an ofrenda, the altar for the people being remembered.
The short version: see the free exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art, walk the decorated storefronts on 18th Street, spend Saturday or Sunday at Xempasúchil on 26th Street, and pick up bread on the way home. Choose Chicago's Day of the Dead roundup, published Oct. 2, says it directly: "During this celebration, pan de muertos is a must!"
The Calendar, Oct. 27 to Nov. 29
Pilsen Día de los Muertos Window Walk: Tuesday, Oct. 27 through Monday, Nov. 2, noon to 11:30pm daily. The Pilsen Chamber of Commerce pairs local businesses with students from Pilarte, the art program at Benito Juarez Community Academy, to decorate storefronts on W 18th St between Damen Ave and Halsted St. Sixteen businesses are in the contest, and visitors vote for their top three.
UNO Carrera de los Muertos: Saturday, Oct. 31, 8am start at Benito Juarez Community Academy (1450 W Cermak Rd). Choose Chicago calls the 5K a neighborhood tradition of 19 years, open to runners and walkers, and every participant gets a race-day shirt. Virtual registration closed Sept. 15, so check UNO's registration page before you plan on running.
Xempasúchil: Día de los Muertos en la Calle 26: Saturday, Oct. 31 and Sunday, Nov. 1, 11am to 6pm. The Little Village Chamber of Commerce runs it throughout the neighborhood, with ofrendas set up at local businesses, free traditional food and drinks, and photo booths.
Where Memory Lives: 40 Years of Día de Muertos: through Sunday, Nov. 29, at the National Museum of Mexican Art (1852 W 19th St). It is the museum's 40th Day of the Dead exhibition, in the Main Gallery, and like the rest of the museum it is free. Youth artists from Yollocalli Arts Reach have made the courtyard space, and a community ofrenda invites you to leave a note, a drawing or a memory for someone you have lost.
Love Never Dies Ball: Saturday, Nov. 7, 6 to 10pm, at the museum. The museum's Auxiliary Board hosts its 12th annual Día de Muertos ball, with a silent auction and food from Chicago restaurants. Tickets are $125 in advance and $150 at the door, the event is 21 and over, and all sales are final.
Pilsen: The Museum, the Windows and the Bread
Start at the museum, a block south of 18th Street. It is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, which means it is open on Sunday, Nov. 1 but closed on Monday, Nov. 2. Plan the exhibition for the weekend. On the way out, stop at Tienda Tzintzuntzán, the museum gift shop, which the museum stocks on buying trips to Oaxaca, Puebla, Taxco, Michoacán, Jalisco, Metepec and Mexico City: artwork, jewelry, textiles, books and toys.
Then walk up to 18th Street, where the window walk runs east from Damen. The bakeries come first. Panadería El Acambaro (1720 W 18th St) is a family-owned bakery making conchas and cuernos every day, and it bakes pan de muerto in season. A block east, Panadería Nuevo León (1634 W 18th St) is run by Abel Sauceda Hernández, who took over the business in 1973, and it is one of the bakeries Choose Chicago names for Day of the Dead bread. We could not find posted hours for either, so call ahead if you are making a special trip.
For the altar itself, Choose Chicago suggests shopping locally for your ofrenda decorations, and two of its picks are on this stretch. Escaramuza USA (1644 W 18th St) designs, makes and customizes mariachi and charro outfits and also sells other Mexican-made goods. Further east, Mestiza (1444 W 18th St), open since 2004, sells jewelry, clothing, housewares and stationery by Latinx and local artisans, plus goods from Mexico and Latin America. Mestiza is open daily, closing at 6pm on weekdays and 5pm on weekends.
For more of the street, from records to vintage to coffee, see our Pilsen 18th Street guide.
Little Village: 26th Street for Altar Supplies
Xempasúchil runs through Little Village on Saturday and Sunday, and 26th Street, the neighborhood's main shopping strip, is a good place to do your ofrenda shopping. Work it from east to west.
Dulcelandia (3253 W 26th St) is the Mexican candy and party-supply store with walls of candy and candy towers. It is on Choose Chicago's list of altar-decoration shops, and it is open Monday to Friday 11am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 9pm and Sunday 10am to 6pm. A few doors east, Rosy's Bakery (3237 W 26th St) is a family-owned panadería and one of the bakeries Choose Chicago recommends for pan de muerto.
Mid-strip, Todo de México (3751 W 26th St) stocks Mexican candy, snacks and other packaged foods, and Choose Chicago lists it, as Todo de Mexico La Casa de Artesania, among its altar-decoration shops. Further west, Panadería Los Gallos (4209 W 26th St) is a stop for pan dulce. At the west end of the strip, Artesanías Elena (4333 W 26th St) is the shop to plan around: the Little Village Chamber says it carries everything you may need to decorate a Day of the Dead altar, along with Talavera-ceramic jewelry from Puebla, alebrijes and goods from local artists and from regions across Mexico.
Just north of 26th, La Espiga de Oro Bakery (2458 S Drake Ave) is the other Little Village bakery on Choose Chicago's pan de muerto list, and its 312eats listing says simply: order the pan de muerto. We could not confirm its hours, so call ahead.
Buying Pan de Muerto
We found no online ordering or posted pre-order forms for these bakeries, so plan to buy in person and call ahead if you need a large order. Having several bakeries on each street helps: Pilsen's two sit a block apart on 18th, and 26th Street has Rosy's at the east end and Los Gallos at the west.
As Choose Chicago notes, the bread can go on the altar or be enjoyed with a hot chocolate, so many shoppers buy for both. If you are building an ofrenda for the first time, the museum's exhibition and its community ofrenda are a good place to look before you shop.
Where to Eat
In Pilsen, Carnitas Uruapan (1725 W 18th St) is the busy carnitas specialist a few doors from El Acambaro (see our page), and 5 Rabanitos (1758 W 18th St) does tacos, torta ahogada and short ribs in mole manchamanteles (details). On 26th Street, Nuevo Leon Restaurant (2657 W 26th St) is the family-owned spot with the mural outside for carne asada, bistec or chile relleno (details), and La Catedral Café (2500 S Christiana Ave), a block off 26th, serves a Guadalajara-inspired breakfast and brunch daily from 7am to 3pm.
For Pilsen, the museum points visitors to the CTA Pink Line's 18th Street or Damen stops, and the #9 Ashland and #50 Damen buses serve the area. If you drive, the museum's Ray Castro Parking Lot, on its east side, is open daily 8am to 11pm at $4 an hour.
For Little Village, the CTA #60 bus runs the length of 26th Street, and there is metered parking along 26th and on the side streets.
The two streets are close enough to do in one day: bread and the museum in Pilsen in the morning, 26th Street in the afternoon while Xempasúchil runs until 6pm.
