Joliet plans a lot of entertainment this year despite ending 2 major festivals – Shaw Local

The announcement last week that New Orleans North will not return in 2026 marked the second big event to be canceled in two months.

Even so, Joliet is preparing for a big year of activity in 2026, the first full year in which the city has a director of special events and cultural affairs in place.

Director Ann Sylvester said the city won’t try to revive New Orleans North, which was run by the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce, or Taste of Joliet. The Joliet Park District ran Taste of Joliet before announcing in December that it was ending the event.

But people can expect a lot of activity this year at the new City Square and at Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park, she said.

Sylvester plans to issue a 2026 calendar of programs and events for those two venues in a matter of weeks.

“A lot of what I’m focussing on is programming for City Square and revitalization of programming at Bicentennial Park,” Sylvester said. “I really like the fact that the city has these two amazing spaces to offer people.”

Both venues are city property.

The new City Square is partially open now and fully opens in April, creating the first downtown open space devoted to providing a staging area for events and programs.

Bicentennial Park, which includes an indoor theater and an outdoor band shell, was created in 1976 as a local contribution to the nation’s celebration that year of the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Mayor Terry D’Arcy at a recent City Council meeting noted that NASCAR racing returns to Joliet on the Fourth of July weekend.

“That weekend, too, we celebrate 250 years of this wonderful country,” D’Arcy said. “So, there’s a lot to look forward to.”

Just what Joliet plans for the July 4 holiday and NASCAR weekend may have to wait.

Sylvester said she has heard from many people interested in the possibility of a return to the Race Fan Rally event that Joliet used to hold downtown on NASCAR weekends.

Whether or not that happens is still under consideration.

In the meantime, the city will not have two of its big summertime events – Taste of Joliet and New Orleans North.

Sylvester said the timing of the cancellations of Taste of Joliet and New Orleans North was coincidental to her arrival. The organizations running the events have said they wanted to change course.

The Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which ran New Orleans North, had already begun discussions at the board level in August to end the event, said chamber President Jen Howard,

“The decision was actually made quite a while ago,” Howard said.

The public announcement came last week.

The last New Orleans North held Aug. 15 drew more than 2,500 people and made money, Howard said. But attendance, which at one point reached 5,000, and revenue had been declining in recent years, she said.

And there were other issues.

“We don’t see a younger generation in attendance,” Howard said. “We think the theme may have prevented younger people from attending.”

It appeared that the Mardi Gras-style party atmosphere created by New Orleans North did not necessarily appeal to 20- and 30-year-olds that the chamber hopes to attract at whatever future event it creates.

Howard said the chamber is talking with Sylvester about possibly creating a new event that will be staged at the City Square.