Baja Roots Donation Commitment & Event Wrap-Up

The first-annual Baja Roots Festival was founded to build community through music and to connect incredibly talented artists from both sides of the border while building awareness and financial support for a small group of our community with a very big need.

Economic hardships in Northern Baja have separated too many families and left many local children in the incredibly challenging position of growing up without their biological parents. We are so lucky to have organizations and community volunteers who dedicate each and every day to ease those challenges. This tireless work was the genesis of the philanthropic focus of Baja Roots.

Unlike our neighbors to the north, the Baja Roots Festival will not always be dedicated to Roots (and Reggae) music, but the name instead comes from our mission to nourish the roots of our community. A solid root system is how a trunk grows strong and how our branches bear fruit.

Now we’re reaching out to sustain this important cause.

If we had sold out the Baja Roots Festival in the first year, as we all hoped, we would have generated $25,000 for the Hacienda Victoria Orphanage. It was the driving force that led us to dedicate six months of our lives and tens of thousands of our own money to see out that vision.

In the music festival business, you take on the risks of an ever-changing economy (and varying appetite for luxury purchases) and the difficulty of predicting the output of the so very many inputs that go into a multi-day, multi-artist event. It all becomes even more unpredictable when marketing to a cross-border audience speaking different languages with different musical and cultural interests. We also had a lot of headwinds this year with the unfortunate news stories of cartel violence associated with live music here in Tijuana.

While we were only able to sell half of our tickets at full price, we were ecstatic to sell out the event by allowing locals to enter and enjoy the event at a greatly reduced rate, increasing important visibility into our critical mission and proving to our partners and sponsors that we know how to throw a party. However, that strategy did not allow us to come close to reaching our financial commitments, let alone our original fundraising goals.

We are not here to make excuses, but simply provide some humble transparency while announcing a few pieces of really great news. Not only do we believe we have laid the groundwork to reach our vision in year two, but helping us get there is our most trusted partner, Las Rocas Resort, who has offered us a generous $5,000 grant to ensure we can bring Baja Roots back to Rosarito next year. We also had the privilege of a visit from the Mayor of Rosarito, who expressed her support and hope for the event to return next year. In Mexico, this is no small gesture as local mayors, especially in tourist-hubs, have a significant amount of sway even on the national stage.

In addition to that critical grant, we are announcing a matching campaign STARTING TODAY that will provide direct donations to Hacienda Victoria. Again, these funds WILL NOT be used to pay our bills but will result in a direct donation from Baja Roots and all who can contribute. We want to fulfill the mission we set out to accomplish to support this vital work. Baja Roots is committing to putting in the first $3,000 and matching donations on our WeFundMe up to $5,000 - so please help us reach that $10,000 goal!

Please consider making a contribution now to this critical campaign! And if you’re not in a place where you can contribute - please share our message on FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM!

Our matching campaign wouldn’t be possible without the direct financial contributions from Baja Bound, OG Juice, HOA Popotla, Santos and his team from Hacienda K43 and Kraken, Krystal Dryer and Artist Esmerelda for the art sales donations, and everyone who threw bills into our cash boxes throughout the night. And of course, our event wouldn’t have even been possible without the support from our investors and every single one of our sponsors. A heartfelt thank you to everyone, as well as those who took time out of their busy lives to enjoy live music and spend time building the bonds within our community.

The GoFundMe is connected directly to Hacienda Victoria’s non-profit EIN and bank account, making your contribution tax-deductible. If you prefer to directly support Baja Roots to ensure we return with more top talent and you're the type who likes a little gift in return for your support, please head to our website and grab some official merch - it is the best way to spread the word while financially supporting us into the future.

Thanks for rocking with us Rosarito - here’s to next year!

-The Baja Roots Founding Team