The 37th Annual All Souls Procession walks down Grande Avenue on Sunday, November 8, 2026, and ends in the Mercado District with the burning of the Urn. The paper lanterns, written prayers and recorded stories that go into that fire come from somewhere else, made at workshop tables and community rooms around Tucson over the next two and a half weeks.
The first of those sessions is on Thursday, October 22. Many Mouths One Stomach, the arts collective that organizes the procession, holds its online "Stories We Carry" workshop that evening from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Anyone who waits for November 8 to take part will be watching a ceremony their neighbors spent October building.
What the Urn takes, and how it gets filled
The finale is called the "Restoration of Care" Ceremony, and the Urn is at its center. Many Mouths One Stomach's Urn project page takes offerings online. For anything physical, the rule is simple: it has to be safe to burn. Paper is fine. Plastic is not.
That rule shapes the workshops too. At Odaiko Sonora's lantern session, the memorial lantern covers people make are carried in the procession and then placed in the Urn to burn. A lantern made on a Thursday night in a brewery comes back two Sundays later as part of the fire.
The calendar between now and November 8
The workshop page lists sessions spread across the city, from Central Tucson to the warehouse blocks just south of downtown. Here they are in date order.
Week of October 22
- Stories We Carry, online. Thursday, October 22, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. This is a digital-storytelling workshop.
- Stories We Carry, Friday evening. Friday, October 23, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
- Stories We Carry, Sunday afternoon. Sunday, October 25, 1:15 to 4 p.m.
In-person Stories We Carry sessions are held at Four Walls Community Center, 2585 N. First Ave., and in the Historic Y Conference Room, 738 N. Fifth Ave.
Week of October 29
- Stories We Carry, online, second session. Thursday, October 29, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
- Memorial Lantern Making with Odaiko Sonora. Thursday, October 29, 5 to 7 p.m., at Moto Sonora Brewing Company, 1015 S. Park Ave. Free.
- Obon Dance and Chant with Odaiko Sonora. Saturday, October 31, 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., at Rhythm Industry Performance Factory, 1013 S. Tyndall Ave. Free.
- Stories We Carry, Sunday afternoon, second session. Sunday, November 1, 1:15 to 4 p.m.
- SORNE's "Finding Our Voice," virtual. Sunday, November 1, $22.
Procession week
- SORNE's "Finding Our Voice," in person. Wednesday, November 4, 6 p.m., at Solar Culture Gallery, 191 E. Toole Ave., $20. People who take a SORNE workshop also get free admission to the Friday, November 6 Dance of the Dead concert.
- Stories We Carry, Friday evening, second session. Friday, November 6, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The lantern workshop and the Obon session are two halves of the same contribution. Odaiko Sonora is on the finale bill along with Morgan Sorne, Flam Chen and Circus Sanctuary, so a Saturday morning at Rhythm Industry connects directly to what happens in the Mercado District eight days later.
The altar going up on Avenida del Convento
Another piece is being built right now at the finale site. The free Community Altar is under construction this month at the entrance to the MSA Annex on Avenida del Convento. Visitors are welcome to leave candles, photos and mementos. Local artists and volunteers from Homicide Survivors are building it, with support from a Gadsden Company grant. The Community Altar page still lists the dedication date as to be announced.
You don't have to wait for procession night to visit. A weekday coffee at the Annex already puts you next to it. Leaving a photograph there in early November is one more way into the ceremony before Grande Avenue fills up.
Saturday belongs to the Little Angels
The Procession of Little Angels is in its 20th year. It runs Saturday, November 7, from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Literacy Connects campus, 200 E. Yavapai Road. Admission is free. Children can make art, decorate angel wings and do their own face painting, then walk in a child-led procession at sunset. The afternoon also includes Stories that Soar! performances, the Tucson Girls Chorus, pop-up altars and a station for collecting Urn prayers.
The prayer station is the link. What a child writes at a table on Yavapai Road on Saturday goes into the same Urn that burns in the Mercado District on Sunday.
Families who knew the event at Armory Park should note the location. The Tucson Sentinel reported the move to Literacy Connects last year. Many Mouths One Stomach now calls the Little Angels an ongoing collaboration with Literacy Connects and End of Life Doulas.
Sunday on Grande Avenue
The procession runs along Tucson's Westside, parallel to the Santa Cruz River. It starts on Grande Avenue just south of Speedway Boulevard, heads straight south on Grande to Congress Street, then turns left into the Mercado District. It passes through Barrio Hollywood and Barrio Menlo along the way. The neighborhoods on the route approved the 2026 map, which is the same as the 2025 route.
Time | What happens | Where |
|---|---|---|
4 p.m. | Gathering begins | Grande Avenue at Speedway |
4 to 10 p.m. | Vendor Village | Mercado District |
6 p.m. | Procession steps off | South on Grande toward Congress |
7:30 p.m. | Circo Domo | Mercado District |
8 p.m. | Finale ceremony and burning of the Urn | Mercado District |
The procession and finale are free. The weekend's ticketed events are:
- Friday, November 6: Dance of the Dead Night One, with a Cacao Ceremony, Soundbath and SORNE, $30.
- Saturday, November 7: Flow for the Soul, All Souls Edition, 7 p.m. to midnight at the MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento, with the Sage Armstrong Community Dance Party, local vendors and LED and fire performances. Tickets are $30 general admission or $70 for an All Access Pass.
- Sunday, November 8: the official after-party with Petunia and the Vipers and DJ Herm, $15 general admission. Organizers say the after-party helps support the organization.
The organizers' guidelines ask the crowd to give each other room and to keep the finale entrance at Congress and Avenida del Convento clear. They also point out that Grande Avenue is long and has plenty of places to watch from. If you can't be there, Visit Tucson, KOLD and Southern Arizona Video are working together on a 2026 livestream of the finale.
Getting to Grande without driving to Grande
The organizers' 2026 guide recommends public transit. Sun Tran has added extra Sunday Route 22 service to the Gateway at Grande, and the Sun Link Streetcar is free and runs all day Sunday. The Mercado District sits at the western end of the Sun Link line, so the streetcar stops right at the finale. The guide also asks riders not to stand on the tracks.
For rideshare, the guide lists three pickup points:
- Grande and Congress, near Chaiteria
- Cushing and Grande, in the pull-out next to Caterpillar
- The Ramada Hotel, near the freeway
Drivers are encouraged to park downtown and walk to the route. The City of Tucson's parking map shows lots, garages and meters. On an ordinary Sunday, street parking around the Mercado is free, according to Tucson Foodie's guide to the district. A Sunday with a procession arriving is not ordinary, though, and the walk from downtown is part of the evening.
Eating at the finale end
Since the procession ends in the Mercado District, dinner can be there too, whether before the 8 p.m. ceremony or after it.
Mercado San Agustín, at 100 S. Avenida del Convento, has Seis Kitchen, which serves Mexican breakfast, tacos and tortas with a full bar. It also has Presta Coffee Roasters, La Estrella Bakery, Dolce Pastello and El Zumitos Juice Bar for coffee, baked goods, cakes, juices and aguas frescas.
At the MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento, the food is packed into a smaller space.
- Bōs Burger serves Wagyu smash burgers and shakes. It took over the former Beaut Burger space and held its grand opening on December 8, 2025.
- Kukai makes Japanese onigiri, donburi and hand rolls.
- Rollies West serves Sonoran hot dogs and birria tacos.
- Decibel Coffee Works has espresso and pastries.
- Hidden Hearth is a whole-grain micro-bakery that opened at the Annex in November 2025, selling breads and croissants.
- Westbound is the Annex's bar and bottle shop. It pours beer, wine, spirits and cocktails, and guests can bring in food from the neighboring vendors to eat in the shared seating.
One familiar name won't be there. Agustín Kitchen closed in late summer after 13 years at Mercado San Agustín, as reported by the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Foodie. Tucson Foodie reports that Il Santo Italiano Rustico, a regional Italian restaurant, is planned for the space, with no opening date announced. On a night when the Vendor Village runs until 10 p.m., check with any restaurant before counting on its regular hours.
If your schedule has room before November 8, the October 29 lantern workshop at Moto Sonora Brewing Company runs from 5 to 7 p.m. and is free.
At the Brenda O'Brien Team, we love seeing Tucson come together around traditions like this one. If you or someone you know is thinking about the Westside, the Mercado District or the neighborhoods along Grande, we're glad to talk through what daily life there looks like. Contact Us whenever you're ready.
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