“Day of the Dead” implies a somber atmosphere, but the event held on Saturday evening was anything but dismal.

Instead, the Day of the Dead celebration was held this year in a warmly lit room with multicolored streamers, vibrant red and turquoise blue murals, and the smells of peppers and chilis wafting through the room.

The Sofia Quintero Art and Cultural Center celebrates its tenth year in the Old South End of Toledo on Broadway St. by hosting a Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, celebration and fundraiser. The event is showcasing the work of six local Latino and Latina artists and displaying traditional Dia de los Muertos altars that celebrate the lives of loved ones who have passed away. The altars were created by local community residents, University of Toledo Art students and students of Bowling Green’s Arts Village.

This is the second year students set up an altar for Gordon Ricketts, director of the arts village. The students made masks to represent dead ancestors and displayed them with marigolds, the traditional flower of the Day of the Dead celebration which were arranged in a cross. This symbol exemplifies the Catholic influences in Mexican art.

In addition to the art on display, guests enjoyed a traditional Mexican dinner, a dance performance by Imagenes Mexicanas and music by the Bad Boyz and Jesse Ponce.

Joe Balderas, director of the Sofia Quintero Art and Cultural Center said, “This is the fifth year of the fundraiser. We used to hold it for free, but it got bigger and better-attended as we started offering more, like the dinner and music.”

“The first few years, we used to build the altars ourselves and then we opened it up to the community,” Balderas said. “The local altar creators find things throughout the year to use in their altars and now that the artist have come in, it’s gotten more creative and elaborate.”

Traditionally during the holiday, family members visit graves and create the altars, which are adorned with fruits and vegetables, since it is believed that the dead are hungry and thirsty from their long and hard journey into the living world, and are decorated with flowers, candles, photos of the departed and personal items.

During this celebration, many people create figures or drawings where skeletons are seen dancing, drinking, or simply enjoying themselves.

“Playful skeletons are used to poke fun at the seriousness of life and death,” Dora Lopez, a local resident who has been building altars for 15 years, said. “As a mental health counselor, I find it very therapeutic to get my stuff out and work on my altar. There is a few weeks’ process of getting ready and thinking about the lives of those that have died.”

Pictures of her mother, father and dog are all featured in her altar, which won the contest at the event last year.

“This ritual dates back to the Aztecs, who didn’t have a very long lifespan and I believe they used this to cope with sometimes an almost imminent death,” Lopez said.

Indicative of the culture shift, she also said during the opening of ceremonies, “Americans would do well to adopt the Mexican view of death – that it is not an ending, but an extension of life.”

Following the history of the holiday and toasting of the Sofia Quintero Art and Cultural Center, a Catholic priest led guests in prayer in Spanish and opened the dinner.

Balderas spoke of the community the Sofia Quintero Center he has resided in for the past ten years.

“This was a heavily populated Latino area years ago, in this Old South End. The second generation of kids that grew up here usually moved out, but the parents are still here and people immigrating from Mexico come here,” he said.

The Sofia Quintero Art and Cultural Center’s mission is to “support and give voice to artistic and educational expression that advance community development, cultural diversity, global awareness, responsibility and social equity, as well as empowerment of the Latina and Latino identities.”

Balderas adds, “We are trying as a community to develop Broadway Street and there are eight Latino organizations within a mile and a half including the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, other community centers, a law office, bakery and a few Mexican restaurants.”

The Center seeks partnerships and collaborations with individuals, organizations and local city government to present various programs and events to provide community development and advancement for its residents.

The center has been partnering with the Toledo Art Museum, the Toledo Botanical Garden, the Toledo Museum of Art, The University of Toledo, BGSU and the St. Peter and Paul Guadalupe Society for the past three years to hold this event. This is also the first year the center has partnered with the Young Men’s Christian Association.

“The YMCA will help to cover the costs of running the center and now the center director is employed by the YMCA,” says Laurel Capabianco, a director of the YMCA.

She said she hopes the Latino community will want to use services of the YMCA and will bring awareness to other members. “We are starting a diversity initiatives committee that will make sure that we are meeting the needs of the community, which now includes the Sophia Quintero Center and the Jewish Community Center.”

Judd Johnson, a Life Trustee for the YMCA said, “This partnering is a really good way for the YMCA to start providing services to the Latino Community, by supporting what the center already does.”