Arts & Entertainment
Sueños Music Festival Gets 5-Year Deal From Chicago Park District, Option To Add 3rd Day of Performances
Sueños Music Festival in Grant Park, May 2024. The festival will return to Chicago’s lakefront for at least the next five years. (Sueños Music Festival)
“Sueños” means dreams, and the founders of Chicago’s Sueños Music Festival made theirs come true when they launched the city’s first all Latin fest in 2022.
The dream just got bigger, with the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners unanimously approving a contract Wednesday that will see Sueños return to Grant Park for the next five years, with an option to extend the deal for five more.
The festival’s organizers were also given clearance by the board to increase the event from two days to three if mutually agreed upon. The contract caps attendance at 75,000 people per day.
In 2022, attendance averaged 38,000 people per day, a figure that increased to 47,000 per day in 2023, and to 60,000 per day in 2024, despite rain washing out portions of this year’s event.
“We saw that the Latino market was in need of a real Latino festival that could represent and celebrate Latin culture in Chicago,” Aaron Ampudia, Sueños co-founder, told WTTW News earlier this year. “I feel honored to be in this position and to hear the feedback from Chicago Latinos, that it makes them feel so proud that there could be a Latino festival celebrating their culture in Grant Park.”
In its first two years, Sueños contributed $3.3 million in revenue to the Chicago Park District, with the 2024 amount still to be determined. The economic impact on Chicago has doubled from $120.9 million in 2022 to $243.7 million in 2024.
The newly approved contract guarantees base permit fees of $1.5 million or $2 million (depending on whether it’s a two- or three-day fest). The permit figure could be significantly higher if tickets sell out, based on a per-ticket fee (see chart below).
(Chicago Park District)
While Sueños appears to be riding a wave of positivity, the issue of private festivals taking over public parks has become divisive in recent years, the most contentious example being the debate over holding Riot Fest in Douglass Park.
Ultimately the organizer of Riot Fest opted to move the 2024 event to Bridgeview, but ill feelings linger among members of the North Lawndale community who were on opposite sides of the argument for and against having the festival in Douglass Park. During the public comment portion of Wednesday’s board meeting, one resident asked for the Park District to convene a peace and reconciliation summit.
Park District CEO and General Superintendent Rosa Escareño acknowledged the balancing act the organization faces in terms of serving park patrons while also needing to generate revenue to fund programming, maintenance and repairs.
“It’s through these kinds of events that’s helping us as a district,” Escareño said, referencing Sueños and other fests, which add some $20 million annually to the district’s coffers. “It’s also a reminder of the value the parks bring to the local economy.”
The district has implemented new policies to address complaints that not enough of that money makes it backs to parks used for special events. Now 10% of net revenue the district collects from an event will be set aside to fund capital improvements at the host park, with a cap of $100,000.
But even deals like the one the Park District has cut with Lollapalooza, under which the mega-fest has paid for improvements to Grant Park, can go awry.
Leslie Recht, president of the Grant Park Advisory Council, reported to the board that fist-sized chunks are already coming out of the pickleball courts paid for with a Lolla grant.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
