Reggaetón Festival Sueños Debuts In Chicago With Over 45,000 Attendees—From Baja Beach Fest Founders

The inaugural Sueños Music Festival echoed throughout Chicago on Memorial Day weekend and brought out thousands to enjoy a weekend of dance, drink and food.

The first reggaetón festival of its kind, Sueños was a two-day event that brought over 45,000 people together for some of the biggest names in music, acclaimed local restaurants, up-and-coming artists and local DJs. Headliners and performers included J Balvin, Ozuna, Myke Towers, Jhay Cortez, Farruko, Sech and more.

Aaron Ampudia and Chris Den Ujil, co-founders of Sueños, were happy about the enthusiasm for the festival. “We just scratched the surface of what we can do with this festival, but even deeper, how we can bring the city to life and how we can make this the people’s festival of Chicago,” Den Ujil said.

Each day of the festival was followed by afterparties across Chicago’s hottest clubs and nightlife spots.

Before Sueños, Ampudia and Den Ujil created Baja Beach Fest, which is an annual, two-weekend music festival in Rosarito Beach, Mexico. Sueños is a continuation of their mission to connect people through music powered by the pair’s entrepreneurial spirit. Their current focus is on Latin music, which is especially personal to Ampudia who is of Mexican heritage.

“I was around all white people in my high school,” Ampudia said, who grew up in Mexico before attending boarding school in Wisconsin and high school in San Diego. “I was almost scared that I had an accent because people would make fun of me so much.”

Media continues to portray Latinx people negatively, yet at the same time, there’s a shift towards inclusivity of Latinx culture. Sueños is one of several festivals targeting Latinx listeners as the area of music has exploded over the last few years with help from stars like Cardi B and Bad Bunny.

“Where I think Aaron and I have come together is that were like put on this earth to bring people together… and to connect people with music and to provide them a platform to celebrate that,” Den Ujil said. “We’ve just committed our lives over the last four or five years to uplift [Latinx culture] and to celebrate it. We got blessed that, all of a sudden, the wave of music just took off and the narrative changed.”

Sueños took place in the same location as Chicago’s famed Lollapalooza and was put on with the same promoters, too. C3 Presents is one of the largest concert promoters in the U.S. that also puts on Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas and international Lollapalooza festivals in Argentina, Paris, Chile and more.

When Ampudia and Den Ujil were scouting where to host Sueños, they had a gut feeling that Chicago’s Grant Park was the right location. Putting it on with C3 Presents made hosting Sueños a seamless process, according to the co-founders.

“Now, we’re getting so many offers to go anywhere in the world,” Ampudia said, explaining how excited they are. “But now, we’d rather just focus on really good products for the fans and be able to deliver amazing experiences.”

Ampudia and Den Ujil plan to cement the reggaetón festival as a Chicago summer classic.

The journey to this moment wasn’t without great risk.

When Ampudia and Den Ujil got together years ago to host the first Baja Beach Festival in 2018, Ampudia and Den Ujil said they bootstrapped their idea and had faith despite not knowing what the outcome would be. Four years later—thanks to a turnout of thousands and demand for more—Baja Beach Fest continues to grow and founders have now expanded to create Sueños.

“There are those moments—where it’s if you’re an athlete, or you’re an artist, or you’re an entrepreneur—when you believe in yourself and you just take it to a place where you’re fully walking on eggshells,” Den Ujil said. “That’s where the magic happens.”