Fort Lauderdale’s nationally ranked Day of the Dead celebration will return in November — but for the first time without its lively creator, pied piper of puppets Jim Hammond, leading the way.
The founder of the annual downtown Día de Los Muertos parade and street festival, which has delighted tens of thousands of costumed celebrants since 2010, Hammond has announced he is stepping away from the event.
In a conversation on Friday, Hammond declined to delve into the “many subtexts” that motivated his decision. He acknowledged that his departure was set in motion by historic flooding in 2023 that destroyed many of the papier-mâché puppets that made his Day of the Dead parade so distinctive.
“I’m just tired. And financially, I know the community loves it, but it’s an incredibly expensive endeavor. And the amount of labor and time, it’s exhausting. I’m just burnt out,” Hammond says.
This year’s Day of the Dead festivities in Fort Lauderdale have his blessing, he says, “as long as the event supports the community and focuses on authenticity.”
Hammond’s longtime partners, Damn Good Hospitality Group, Riverwalk Fort Lauderdale and the city, will continue the free and family friendly tradition on Nov. 1. The signature elements that had this popular Fort Lauderdale celebration listed among the best in the country by the Travel Channel, USA Today and other publications will remain, they say.
“The core of the event, the ambience, and the tradition and the community aspect of everything is all going to stay the same,” says Jarred John, of Damn Good Hospitality, who has worked with Hammond on Day of the Dead for the past decade.
Riverwalk Fort Lauderdale president and CEO Genia Duncan Ellis says she has been working with partners throughout the community to make sure the show goes on.
“The festival and the stroll are nationally recognized, which is just an awesome spotlight on the city of Fort Lauderdale. Our job is to keep that light on,” she says.
The 2025 festival, with support from the Mexican American Council and the Consulate General of Mexico in Miami, will follow the template of years past, beginning with festivities at Esplanade Park at 3 p.m. The afternoon will include music, dance and folklorico performances inspired by the traditions of Día de Los Muertos, along with face painting, mask making, Latin food and artist booths.
The iconic Skeleton Processional will begin at 6 p.m., with costumed participants — flower-tossing Frida Kahlos, masked luchadores and bony mariachis — winding through the Himmarshee District. The parade will culminate a couple of blocks away at a street party outside Revolution Live and Backyard, where food and drink, music and photo opportunities will ensue until 11 p.m. All of these events are free, and anyone is welcome to take part in the processional.
As the organizational ringmaster and a day-of manager of the parade, Hammond has always described his Day of the Dead production as a triumph of community. His absence will require even more of that.
John is hoping locals come to this year’s event with extra-fanciful costumes, enthusiasm and patience.
“Operationally there may be a few hiccups,” he says. “We’re just gonna ask a little bit more from the community and to be a part of the stroll.”
Where is Jim?
A longtime Fort Lauderdale resident, Hammond says he is still plotting his next move, which could take him to Vermont or Thailand or keep him in South Florida.
He has been thinking about leaving the area since the 2023 floods that destroyed the Fort Lauderdale studio of his company, Puppet Network, and with it dozens of puppets and masks that had been his life’s work.
Joe Cavaretta / South Florida Sun Sentinel
Fort Lauderdale artist Jim Hammond, known for organizing the city’s Day of the Dead festival, looks over one of the destroyed puppets after floodwaters inundated his studio and home in April 2023. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel file)
Also Hammond’s main livelihood, Puppet Network has created figures for a variety of local and national events and theatrical productions, and he has been a longtime puppet designer for Broadway’s “The Lion King.”
On the night of the April flooding, an emotionally devastated Hammond contemplated quitting his job and South Florida. While he was convinced the 2023 Day of the Dead festival seven months later would not happen, the community banded together to ensure that it did.
A second flood in 2024 forced another evacuation of the studio, with 7 inches of water soaking puppets and the materials being used to make repairs. Again, John, Duncan Ellis and others helped Hammond rally to make sure the 2024 festival took place.
In 2025, they’ll have to go on without Hammond.
“This is a difficult decision, but necessary after the flood that destroyed our headquarters two years ago,” Hammond said on Facebook, thanking the community for “your continued friendship and support through the years.”
Hammond’s renovated Puppet Network studio in Fort Lauderdale’s Edgewater neighborhood is currently for sale.
His wife, Shelly Bradshaw, recently retired from her position as vice president of operations at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts after 30 years with the venue.
“Shelly and I are still figuring out where we’re going to land,” Hammond says.
New puppets
The critical task of filling the creative void resulting from Hammond’s exit is being handled by Duncan Ellis and Jodi Jeffreys-Tanner, a longtime arts advocate with the Broward Cultural Council, Funding Arts Broward and her nonprofit Las Olas Capital Arts.
They are enlisting help by everyone from students at after-school art programs to seasoned artists, who are making large puppets to resemble the 18-foot figures that were Hammond’s signature visuals for the Skeleton Processional.
Jeffreys-Tanner has attended Day of the Dead for years and says jumping in to help was a no-brainer.
“It’s a great community event, it’s free and it’s fun,” she says.
At her request, Fort Lauderdale artist Heather Neiman and Margate-based Stephanie Leyden are creating five large puppets for the parade, working out of Leyden’s garage.
After doing sketches — they consulted last year’s images from Fort Lauderdale Day of the Dead’s Instagram account for ideas — the two have been in a whirl of papier-mâché for more than two weeks, with work spilling into Leyden’s living room, dining room and a spare bedroom.
“We are two very tenacious artists who work smart and work well together, but it’s still been nonstop like six to 10 hours a day,” Leyden says.
Each of their five puppets will have a different theme, from a sexy Frida Kahlo to a head covered in fluorescent paint that will be illuminated by a string of black lights. Another will have a hat trimmed in tiny disco balls.
“We’re very excited,” Neiman says.
Anyone who would like to volunteer to create masks and puppets, or to carry large puppets during the parade, can email events@goriverwalk.com.
John, of Damn Good Hospitality, is holding out hope that Hammond may decide to contribute to Day of the Dead this year “in any capacity he wants.”
“Jim’s not only a partner, but he’s been a dear friend of ours for the past decade,” John says. “It’s tough, because we love Jim and we wish him and his family the best.”
Duncan Ellis also is hopeful: “It’s something that’s very dear to his heart, but it’s just not in his bandwidth this year. The hope is that we’ll get it through this year, and maybe by next year or the following year, he’ll be ready to step back in.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Downtown Fort Lauderdale Day of the Dead
WHEN: 3-11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1
WHERE: Esplanade Park, 400 SW Second St., Fort Lauderdale; block party in the 1000 block of Southwest First Avenue
COST: Free
INFORMATION: GoRiverwalk.com/dotd or BackyardFTL.com
Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on IG: @BenCrandell.