Check out a photo gallery from the event here!
Cempasúchil*: Caring for Community was a West Side block party held on Congress Street E. on 10/08/23. It was a healing space to connect with our neighbors, celebrate, dance, eat, and build power.
It was day to celebrate and call for justice for our neighbor, Gabriel "Dino" Mendoza, who was tragically killed in October of last year.
It was a gathering to share ideas about honoring loved ones we've lost, about Día de los Muertos and the use of marigolds, and also about ways we can heal and care for each other, both through community connection and through medicinal herbs and body work.
There was live music from Taiko Arts Midwest, DJ Jae Myth, free elotes from El Burrito Mercado, mural painting with artist Heather Friedli, and healing arts like reiki, massage, and more.
*Cempasúchil is an indigenous that means "marigold" in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs.
Learn more about WSCO's work with Community Care and Health and Environmental Justice at www.wsco.org