After successful inaugural event, organizers hope to make Sueños Music Festival into a Chicago tradition
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Sueños Music Festival transformed Grant Park into a colorful celebration of Latino culture this past Memorial Day Weekend.
Both Saturday and Sunday attracted over 45,000 Chicagoans.
The first festival of its kind to come to the city, Sueños co-founders Aaron Ampudia and Chris Den Ujil say they were taken aback by how popular the festival was.
"The response from Chicago was crazy," said Ampudia. "We were surprised by the response."
While the two have been producing Baja Beach Fest in Baja, Mexico since 2018, they've always dreamed of bringing a festival to Chicago.
"We really wanted to come to the U.S. – but before we came, we wanted to make sure it was incredibly meaningful," said Den Ujil.
After teaming up with C3, the production company behind Lollapalooza, their dream became a reality. Working with the city to secure Grant Park wasn't too difficult. And once on sale, their tickets sold out in hours.
"We really just want to be a platform for as many people to come as possible. We had no idea the response would be like this," said Den Ujil. "We're just really grateful."
They say securing Grant Park wasn't too difficult — and working with C3 and the city made it a relatively smooth process.
"To be able to have the support from the city to bring this to life – it's just been an incredible experience," said Den Ujil.
They say Sueños is meant to be much more than just a party.
"This is not just a music festival. It is so much more," said said Den Ujil. "It's a celebration of life."
They decorated the festival grounds with bright colors, patrons wore unique fashion, art instillations dotted the park, and they even brought out a Ferris wheel.
Most popular seemed to be the food. Lines of festivalgoers waited for some crowd sourced Chicago favorites.
The organizers chose the food vendors based off a public poll that they put out on social media. So most of the food that you see here is coming from local restaurants that the crowd wanted.
"Wherever we go, we always try to include the whole city," said Ampudia. "And that integrity – the brand is Sueños. It's meant to be making dreams come true and bring dreams to life."
And their work goes beyond the festival grounds.
"We work with Fiesta Del Sol to provide more media equipment to the young Latinas of Chicago, so they can have more tools," said Ampudia. "Maybe they'll be playing here, you know?"
Den Ujil and Ampudia say they hope to bring Sueños back to Chicago next year and hopefully become a Chicago summer staple.
