Alianza Cero Basura Program Director Juan Salvador Aceves served on the panel of judges for the 2023 Katrin/Katrina contest, one of the main events of the annual Todos Santos Day of the Dead Festival. Participants – men, women and animals – had to incorporate zero waste principals and repurposed materials into their costumes to be eligible to win. People got extremely creative.

“I thought the dog that only had a skeleton painted on his fur should have won the whole contest” states Juan Salvador, “but the other judges were partial to the humans. That dog – and the humans who love him – truly embraced the spirit of zero waste.” 

All the winners demonstrated great flair in upcycling typical household waste into grand Day of the Dead pageantry. We’d like to give special recognition to Isabel Arce, winner of the children’s category. Her costume was La Ramona, Colors of Mexico, and featured these repurposed materials:

• Old tablecloth repurposed into the skirt
• Cardboard repurposed into the hat
• 500 aluminum can rings, soft drink caps, disposable cutlery and snack food bags were repurposed into the clothing decoration

Warm thanks to Rouss Ramirez for her strong commitment to both Alianza Cero Basura and the Todos Santos Day of the Dead Festival!