McALLEN — Quinta Mazatlán’s Halloween Party in the Park attracted the trail’s biggest turnout yet with over 1,300 guests Saturday.
The inspiration for the event was a Halloween feel mixed with cultural highlights to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.
Guests enjoyed live performances from the city of McAllen Parks and Recreation Folklorico dancers and the award-winning Mariachi Mariposas.
Throughout the trail guests could shop from some local vendors who sold everything from food at Randerie’s food truck, to coffee, candles and art.
Aside from the Halloween Party, Quinta Mazatlán also invited its guests to walk the Sticks and Bones trail to see over 30 exhibits which were decorated with Chicano-inspired art from local artists.
Wendy Lara, an artist from Hidalgo, was the catrina for the event and dressed in a giant while dress. The artist who specializes in all mediums said she did her own costume makeup for the event to look like a catrina.
Lara said her favorite part of the event was the community engagement and seeing all the people dressed up to celebrate Halloween and Dia de los Muertos.
Gaby Rico, an artist whose work was displayed at the event said it is important to expose the community to the culture behind the event’s festivities.
“For us it’s very important because all of us are Mexican and it’s very important to support our culture and to promote it and to help inspire and let other people know about it,” Rico said.
Her piece, “Corazon Sangrando” can be viewed on the trail until mid-November.
Another local artist from McAllen, Cele Castillo, said he enjoyed seeing people appreciate their work at the event.
Castillo specializes in Chicano art and said what inspired his art for this particular event was Mexican cultura.
On the trail, Castillos’ spin on Miguel from the Disney movie “Coco” and baby Jack from the movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas” can be viewed.
The art and cultural aspects of the event helped draw the biggest crown Quinta Mazatlán has ever seen, according to Victor De Leon, environmental education supervisor for Quinta Mazatlán.
De Leon said in his five years at the nature trail he has never seen a crowd like Saturdays and attributes it to the cabin fever caused by the pandemic.
“We weren’t expecting this many but we are very blessed to see that the families did come out,” he said. “People want to get out in nature and still respect each other’s distance because we’re still in the pandemic, and they can still stretch out (here) but it’s outdoors.”
The quarter-mile trail was refreshing for many families after being cooped up for so long with the pandemic.
Angel Hernandez, of the Rio Grande Valley, said he decided to come out to Mazatlán to bring his five younger brothers and sisters out after not celebrating any Halloween festivities last year.
His little brother visited Quinta Mazatlán with his elementary school and encouraged the entire family to go out and experience the colorful and festive artwork throughout the trail.
Jim and Mede Leblanc, from Galveston, are avid birders and went to the trail with the intention of just watching birds but were pleasantly surprised to see all the decorations throughout the trail.
Families had plenty of photo worthy moments with the kid-friendly art scattered throughout the trail that highlighted Marvel and DC superheroes.
Children and parents were also able to gain an educational experience from the Sticks and Bones event which taught kids about vertebrae and invertebrate animals.
Lynette Castillo, an environmental educator at Quinta Mazatlán, said she created different crafts to represent the vertebrae to the children with Q-tips.
Lynette said they replicated dinosaur bones, bones in the human hand and even got to decorate their own sugar skull at the end of her presentation.
“I love seeing the kids’ enthusiasm about it because whether they come specifically to just be out in nature or they’re just coming for that specific event,” she said. “The kids get so excited to just see the different birds and animals or even a cool plant or a cool flower and it’s not what they expected to get out of it but it’s still here for them to appreciate.”
The Sticks and Bones Trail will be up until the middle of November where guests can stop by from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and until 7 p.m. Thursdays.
