Abilene's NPR Station
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Dia de los Muertos brings community together to celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture

Abilenians gathered at Sears Park last night for Dia de los Muertos. Families brought pictures of loved ones to add to the community altar. They also enjoyed pan de Muerto and the mariachi music and performance by Ballet Folklorico that brought the event to life.

Ricardo Gutierrez of RJF Insurance was one of the sponsors of the event. He says celebrating ancestors on Dia de los Muertos is an important part of passing family memories to the next generation, “This is my heritage. This is my culture. This is my tradition, and this is who I am, and this is who I want my kids to continue to be. It’s something that belongs to us and something that we don’t want to let go."

Gutierrez says organizers want the entire community to join in celebrating Dia de los Muertos, whether they’re Hispanic or not, because it’s a good opportunity to bring all Abilenians together as a community.

Heather Claborn joined KACU as news director in January 2018. She oversees daily newscast and feature reporting and works with KACU’s news anchors to develop newscasts. She also conducts two-way interviews, reports for newscast and feature stories and maintains the station’s social media and website content. In 2020, Claborn helped staff develop the daily newsletter that is delivered by email.