Thousands of East Bay residents made their way to International Blvd. today to Fruitvale's most celebrated and vibrant street festival where they partook in food, refreshments, performances, music, face painting and games.

Fruitvale's 14th annual Dia de Los Muertos festival featured 25 sacred artist and community altars, two main music stages, and enough activity areas to keep the multi-age and -race crowd busy.

As with prior years, the festival paid homage to community losses. This year, the tenants of the Fruitvale Public Market created an altar in memory of Oakland's 2009 Homicide Victims, Oscar Grant included.

"It's important to honor the deceased and to incorporate the community," said Jorge Rochin, a tenant of the Fruitvale Public Market. "In this way we can ensure that younger generations know their culture and feel connected to it."

Though the festival was enjoyed by roughly the same numbers as last year (some estimate this at 100,000), vendor and store profits at this year's festival were down significantly.

According to Cesar of G.G. Tukuy Indigenous Art & Craft and a member of MISBA, a San Francisco small business association, people are just buying less. His sales were down by 25 percent compared to last year. Most hard hit were churro and balloon vendors, many of whom said their sales were nearly 50 percent less than last year. According to these vendors, the Day of the Dead festival is usually their most profitable day.

This year's festival was a collaborative effort between Ignacio Fuentes,  The Unity Council & Asociación de Comerciantes y Profesionales de Oakland.

From Wikipedia: The Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival is a traditional and spiritual ceremony for many Latinos to celebrate the deceased. Scholars trace the origins of the modern holiday to indigenous observances dating back thousands of years, and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl.