OCEANSIDE -- The region's biggest Day of the Dead celebration will be held Sunday, when MainStreet Oceanside hosts its eighth annual Dia de los Muertos cultural fair.

An estimated 45,000 people are expected to attend the daylong festival, which will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. downtown. More than 75 vendor booths and more than 20 community altars will be erected along three blocks of Pier View Way, as well as on Ditmar Street and in Artist's Alley.

Local Oaxacan families will build altars for lost loved ones, and other altars will be built by local artists in the Oceanside Civic Center Plaza. Mellano & Company will donate more than 30,000 marigolds for use in the altar displays.

In Mexico, the Day of the Dead marks the one time of year when the souls of the deceased return to Earth briefly. Families mark the time with festivities and reunions. Altars are created as a place to leave mementos from departed loved ones.

At the Oceanside event, visitors can watch the altars being built and can take part in their own remembrance at the chalk cemetery in Artists' Alley. Visitors will be given chalk, a candle and some flowers to use however they wish to decorate a section of the walkway in a loved one's honor. The alley will be decorated with papel picado (cut paper) designs, which are traditional Dia de los Muertos crafts in Mexico.

Live music and dancing will be presented all day on two outdoor stages as well as on the street. Performers include mariachis, ballet folklorico troupes and more. Food booths will serve pan de muertos (Mexico's traditional "Dead Bread," formed to resemble bones), tamales, carne asada tacos, sopes, tortas and other Mexican dishes.

A children's zone at Pier View Way at Ditmar Street will give children a chance to decorate sugar skulls and masks and make paper flowers.

Call MainStreet Oceanside at (760) 967-2005 or visit www.msoceanside.com.