Sueños Festival day 2 in Grant Park evacuated due to weather, Peso Pluma performance canceled

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Day two of the Sueños Music Festival got underway on Sunday afternoon after an hourslong rain delay. It was later evacuated due to severe weather and lightning, officials said.

The evacuation came around 8 p.m., before Peso Pluma was scheduled to perform at 9 p.m.

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Chicago's Office of Emergency Management & Communications announced the gates would not reopen.

Initially when ABC7 spoke with people attending the festival, they were disappointed with the rain but happy the event was still happening. However, when ABC7 talked to them as they were evacuated out of Grant Park, they were calling for their money back.

The festival went from a soggy start to a soaked shutdown finish.

Massive crowds of people poured out of Grant Park as rain poured down on thousands of festivalgoers.

"The cops just started saying, 'it's canceled let's go, let's go,'" said Yennifer Velazquez, who traveled from Springfield to attend the event.

Organizers ended the Latin music festival early after a late start due to multiple rounds of storms sweeping the area.

"It's kind of upsetting, because me and my fiancé we came in here thinking that we were going to see Peso Pluma, which is one of the biggest artists that was playing tonight," Velazquez said.

The morning storm that swept through pushed back the festival's start time by four hours and initially forced a few lineup changes.

"Everyone was like, 'oh, no way.' We were hoping it was false information," festivalgoer Isaac Munoz said.

Kevin Zhagui, or "Kazeta," is a DJ who was set to perform at Sueños earlier in the day until the first weather delay.

"We woke up really early to get here to set up and everything," Kazeta said. "We were rolling with the punches so we didn't know if it was going to stop or if it was going to continue."

For a few hours, attendees were optimistic that they would get a chance to salvage the last night of the festival until another round of rain crept in.

"Right now with the rain and everything, it's depressing and we want our money back," Velazquez said.

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"It's annoying because we traveled far and this is messed up. So Sueños you owe me a refund," said Angel Castaneda, who traveled to Chicago from California.

Festival organizers said they will release more information on Monday about possible partial refunds.

Five artists -- Delilah, Alexis y Fido, Bad Gyal, Gabito Ballesteros and Manuel Turizo -- were initially removed from the lineup earlier Sunday after a rain delay, but four were later added back as the festival restarted at 4 p.m.

Delilah, Alexis y Fido, Bad Gyal and Gabito Ballesteros are still expected to perform, organizers said on X.

Manuel Turizo was not added back to the lineup after being removed earlier Sunday.

Maluma, Mora and Jowell y Randy held their performances.

Doors were initially set to open at noon on Sunday, according to the festival's website, but storms moving through the city caused delays.

Crews spent hours trying to prep drenched festival grounds before the event's second day eventually started up around 4 p.m.

Organizers warned festival-goers that the grounds are still wet and advised people to dress accordingly and bring proper approved rain gear, like ponchos and jackets. Umbrellas are not allowed into the festival grounds.

"We wanted to be prepared, just in case, so we got ponchos, and that was pretty much it, in case if it did rain, you know?" said Jose Cedeno, who traveled to Chicago from Indiana for the festival. "I mean, it rained, and we were prepared."

However, a second round of storms is expected to hit the Chicago area on Sunday evening.