May 19, 2024
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New Orleans North will be first Joliet summer festival

Fourth music stage will be added this year

By Bob Okon
New Orleans North returns to downtown Joliet on Friday.

Musicians walk the street during a past New Orleans North in Joliet.

New Orleans North will be June 2, about a week earlier than usual and making it the first big bash of the Joliet summer festival season.

The event that replicates New Orleans in downtown Joliet will be the night before Star Wars Day, which creates a Star Wars atmosphere downtown.

Both events create a fantasy aura in downtown Joliet. Organizers hope to feed off of each other to bring new attendees, said Sara Palya, manager of events and programs for the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Both events involve a lot of costuming, although the themes are different.

New Orleans North features jugglers and stilt walkers on the street, and many attendees come dressed in Mardi Gras style. New this year will be fire twirlers and artists who will create live on the street.

An audience member dances with a stilt walker Friday during the New Orleans North celebration in downtown Joliet.

A stilt walker dances with the crowd at a past New Orleans North.

New Orleans North also is adding a fourth tent that will add more diversity to the live music at the event, Palya said.

“We’re putting a tent on Van Buren Street,” she said. “It’s going to have a jazz club kind of feel.”

The main stage will feature Maggie Speaks, a popular Chicago-based band that will deliver a heavy brass and horn sound for its performance.

“We’ve hired the entire band,” Palya said. “They’ll have over 10 horn and brass pieces.”

The main stage also will feature New Orleans style bands adding to the brassy experience.

Two other stages – Thompson’s Tap and Hookah Alley – will be back.

So will a drag show, which had a debut appearance in 2022.

Palya said the drag show, provided through the Joliet Pride Network, was “a huge hit last year. We definitely saw our biggest crowd of the night during that.”

Dennis Beale, with Louisiana Barbeque in Joliet, pours barbecue sauce over a slab of ribs Friday night during the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry's New Orleans North festival in downtown Joliet.

A vendor serves up ribs at a past New Orleans North.

Eight food vendors have been signed up so far, offering a varied menu including Cajun food from Moe Joe’s Cajun & Caribbean Cuisine out of Plainfield. Annabell’s Bar B Q and Cemeno’s Pizza also will be on hand.

Several thousand people are expected for New Orleans North, which has become one of the most popular events of the summer festival season.

The event runs 5-11 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance but $20 starting at 5 p.m. on June 1, the day before the event. Tickets can be purchased at the gate. In advance, tickets can be purchased at the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry website, which is jolietchamber.com.