Carbondale's First Día de los Muertos Without the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Folklórico
Last November, a participant dressed as a monarch butterfly led the procession down Main Street. In its photo coverage, the Post Independent's caption linked the migrating monarchs to the spirits of ancestors who come home this time of year. Folklórico dancers in traditional Tehuana dress from Oaxaca danced in that procession too. That was the 21st Día de los Muertos Carbondale Arts has organized, and the last one for those dancers.
The Post Independent reported at the time that the 2025 celebration would be the final appearance by Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Folklórico. So the procession that leaves the Third Street Center on Friday, Nov. 6, is the first in many years without the troupe that defined it. How it goes will show whether the celebration Carbondale Arts has spent two decades building can hold up when one of its main pillars is gone.
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet's Folklórico program started in 1998. It offered free after-school classes in Mexican folkloric dance to students around the valley. For most of that time it was led by instructor Francisco "Paco" Nevarez-Burgueño. In July 2025, Aspen Public Radio reported that the ballet was winding the program down after 27 years because he was retiring, and that it would end with the close of 2025. The same story said he planned to consult for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet afterward. The Post Independent added that the program didn't have the funding to replace him.
He has been clear about what the troupe meant to Carbondale's celebration. "The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Folklórico program has been very important to the (Día de los Muertos) celebration because we are the ones who provide the real traditions, like dances and the tradition to celebrate beside the altars," he told the Post Independent last fall.
A year earlier, he told the Aspen Times how he planned each edition. "Every year after we've finished our great Carbondale Día de Muertos Celebration, my mind starts thinking about next year: What region from Mexico will we feature, what costumes we have or need to be designed, how many students, music, lighting? All the details," he said. "And as always, it is only in Carbondale where we can celebrate as one community our Mexican culture and traditions."
A program that started planning a year ahead, down to which region of Mexico to feature, was doing much of the cultural work behind the evening. Its absence is the real change this year.
Carbondale Arts may have been preparing for this moment without meaning to. The event changed during the pandemic. As the Aspen Times described it in 2024, the pandemic gave the celebration an "unanticipated elevation" through two additions: a large community ofrenda on the front porch of The Launchpad and a big raised stage for music and dance. The paper said community participation had grown every year since, with several organizations and individuals contributing.
In the same article, Carbondale Arts Executive Director Jamie Abbott described the organization's role: "Carbondale Arts creates the container for anyone who is interested to come together and contribute their own special part."
That year's procession showed the approach at work. New pieces came from artists Livier Cruz Guerrero, Anjanette Garcia and Estela Lopez, from students at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and from Annie Bell and GSES students, with contributions from Garfield County libraries. In 2025, Carbondale Arts went a step further and ran a free puppet-making workshop led by Livier Cruz Guerrero so adults and kids could build puppets for the parade themselves.
Ofrendas, puppets, stage acts and food are each made by many hands. If the celebration really was built that way, losing one troupe should change how it looks without changing what it is.
The 2026 schedule on Carbondale Arts' event page still lists "Folklórico" first on the stage bill, but it doesn't name a troupe. Two groups led by former Aspen Santa Fe Ballet dancers are keeping the art form going in the valley.
Ballet Folklórico de Valle. Amy Roman started this group after the old program ended. She has danced folklórico for seven years, and she told the Aspen Times she began after watching her aunt, who "was part of the first generation of the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet's Folklórico Program." In early October, the group had four members and was looking for an instructor and a permanent practice space, according to the Sopris Sun. It was working toward a performance at the November First Friday.
Dance Initiative's youth folklórico program. The program is taught by Angel Najera and Juan Pablo Iemus Peña. They studied folklórico under Nevarez-Burgueño at Aspen Santa Fe Ballet for 14 and 13 years, and both performed with the company in Cuba, Mexico and Greece. Dance Initiative says on its program page that folklórico in the Roaring Fork Valley has grown over the past 30 years through people who "helped lay the foundation for this tradition." Dance Initiative also has one of the community booths on Nov. 6.
The stage lineup has new names too. Cumbre Sol and El Proyecto de Mariachi weren't in last year's preview lineup. They join returning performers Mezcla Socials Dance and the Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra.
The evening starts at the library. Here is the full schedule from Carbondale Arts.
| Time | Where | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 4:30 p.m. | Carbondale Library | Face painting, Mexican hot chocolate, pan de muerto |
| 5 p.m. | Chacos Park and 4th Street Plaza | Event opens and food trucks start serving |
| 6 p.m. | Third Street Center | Procession steps off |
| 6:45 p.m. | Chacos Park | Procession arrives and stage performances begin |
| 9 p.m. | Downtown | Event ends |
The library session is free. Garfield County Libraries lists it from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., with crafts before the parade, on the library's event page. The procession goes from the Third Street Center along 3rd Street to Main Street and ends at the plaza. Anyone can walk in it.
Three food trucks are on the list: El Sabor de México, Taquería El Yaquí and El Bajón de Churros. Community booths come from the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen Valley Land Trust, Dance Initiative, the Latino Advisory Board, Powers Art Center, S.A.N.A. and TACAW. Carbondale Arts is also taking volunteer sign-ups for the night.
The Main Street ofrendas are another sign of how widely the celebration is shared. Businesses set them up inside their own spaces. This year's participants:
Two businesses are doing more than an altar. At Mountain Tide Provisions, members of the Andy Zanca Youth Empowerment Program will play 30-minute sets of their favorite vinyl. Nido will serve small portions of pozole, agua fresca and Mexican hot chocolate by Susie Jimenez Productions, and will sell spices from local SOCO Chile Company.
The community ofrenda on The Launchpad's front patio at 76 S. 4th St. is open to everyone. Carbondale Arts invites residents to bring a photo or memento of a loved one, and the altar stays up for a week of shared remembrance. The organization's ofrenda guidelines list setup on Nov. 2 and takedown on Nov. 9. They also ask for a few things:
If you'd like to see the rest of the season too, our fall calendar for Carbondale covers the community events that keep this town busy well after summer, and our Carbondale neighborhood page has more on the downtown blocks where all of this happens.
Twenty-one years of altars, puppets and dances have made Nov. 6 a night that belongs to the whole town, and I'd love to hear what this celebration means to you and your family. If you ever want to talk about life in this town, whether that's this evening or your own plans in the valley, Karen Peirson is always happy to sit down with you. Book a consultation whenever the timing feels right.
Start your Aspen home search with a trusted local expert. Whether you're looking for a ski-in/ski-out retreat or a cozy home in the valley, Karen will guide you every step of the way.