Joliet couple’s love story began at New Orleans North festival

The annual New Orleans North festival is a must-attend event for one Joliet couple.

Adam Taylor, 39, and Monique Maginel, 41, met and fell in love at the 2019 event and became engaged at the 2023 festival. Their daughter, Amelia Taylor, was born in 2021, and the couple is getting married Sept. 7.

New Orleans North is an outdoor event and kicks off Friday. It is held rain or shine for those 21 and older and is hosted by the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry. It is a Mardi Gras-style festival, including bands, beer tents, food and street entertainment.

Taylor recommends New Orleans North and said organizers do a great job of showcasing a New Orleans-type atmosphere.

“I used to go to New Orleans every year,” Taylor said.

Love happened when they least expected it

Neither Taylor nor Maginel had gone to New Orleans North in 2019 looking for love. Maginel said she was newly single, and her friends invited her to attend the event as their own girls night out. Taylor knew one of Maginel’s friends and walked over to the group to say hello.

During the conversation, the fact both Maginel and Taylor were newly single slipped into the conversation. Maginel said Taylor then said, “Hi,” kissed her, and then the two exchanged phone numbers.

After Taylor left, Maginel said she thought, “Oh, my gosh! This has never happened to me. What do I do in this situation?”

Maginel said she then left her friends to look for Taylor. Or as Taylor said, “I tried to leave but she wouldn’t let me.” Maginel said she and Taylor hung out together listening to bands for the remainder of night.

That’s when they met Tom Grotovsky, owner of the former Great American Bagel in Joliet now The Curator’s Cafe, and they told Grotovksy their story. Maginel said she and Taylor started dating shortly after the 2019 New Orleans North.

“We were inseparable,” Maginel said. “We just loved each other’s company. Adam and I have so many common interests and hobbies. It was like he was my missing puzzle piece.”

Maginel said she and Taylor both like golf and both dislike camping and hot weather. Taylor said they took weekend trips to Traverse City, Michigan. Later in 2019, Taylor, Maginel and Maginel son’s Mason, then 7 and now 12, moved in together.

“Adam and I have so many common interests and hobbies. It was like he was my missing puzzle piece.”

—  Monique Maginel of Joliet, who met her soon-to-be-husband Adam Taylor at New Orleans North

New Orleans North was cancelled in 2020 because of to the COVID-19 pandemic. So Maginel said she and Taylor went to Great American Bagel to post in front of a painting hanging there depicting New Orleans North.

In 2021, Maginel and Taylor attended New Orleans North and Amelia – who was born in July – stayed with a babysitter. The couple returned to New Orleans North in 2022, and Taylor proposed to Maginel at the 2023 event – after first sharing his plans with Grotovksy.

Grotovsky said his girlfriend Deanna Gibson was doing face painting that night and had just created an extra special design for Maginel when Taylor popped the big question.

“He got down on his knees and proposed to her and she was totally shocked,” Grotovsky said.

Taylor said Grotvosky then “brought us to the front of the band and made the announcement in the alley that we were just newly engaged.”

“They did a whole song and dance for us,” Taylor said.

Why isn’t the couple getting married at New Orleans North?

“We thought about it,” Taylor said, but Maginel added that a wedding at New Orleans North would exclude Amelia as well as the children of their family and friends because of the age restriction.

“We wanted something more quiet and more intimate,” Maginel said.

Keeping the New Orleans North connection

The couple will get married in an outdoor ceremony at the Forest Preserve District of Will County’s Four Rivers Environmental Education Center. Grotovsky, a certified minister, offered to officiate the ceremony to complete the New Orleans North connection.

Grotovsky said he typically officiates marriages of people he knows, which strengthens their bonds.

“I feel like I give a little bit of my soul to them, a little bit of my heart,” Grotovksy said.

Maginel said Taylor’s admission ticket to New Orleans North 2019 is framed with the 2019 promotional poster and displayed in their living room. Taylor has New Orleans North promotional posters from every event since he and Maginel met, he said.

Maginel and Taylor highly recommend people stop out to New Orleans North.

“It’s a great time,” Maginel said. “And you never know who you’ll meet.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: New Orleans North

WHEN: 5 to 11 p.m. Friday

WHERE Slammers Stadium, 1 Mayor Art Schultz Drive, Joliet

TICKETS: $20 at the gate

INFORMATION: Visit jolietchamber.com/new-orleans-north.