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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Today is Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead — a big holiday in Mexico and Central America. But celebrating it here can be kind of tough, Rachel Dornhelm reports.

RACHEL DORNHELM: In Mexico, special marketplaces are set up weeks in advance so people can stock up on staples of Day of the Dead, like banners and marigolds and skulls made of sugar.

But here in the US, immigrants outside of established communities can have a tough time finding them.

Gregorio Mora-Torres teaches at San Jose State University. He says entrepreneurs are eventually going to realize there are profits to be made.

GREGORIO MORA-TORRES: As these traditions begin to sink roots in these places, I’m sure that people are going to start expanding the industry.

Mora-Torres predicts it will be like the piñata, first made by entrepreneurial families in the ’60s and now a mass-produced party product.

But Day of the Dead participants won’t have to wait that long. At mexicansugarskull.com sales to individuals are up almost 20% this year.

I’m Rachel Dornhelm for Marketplace.