Sedalia Couple Gets Engaged at Goo Goo Dolls Concert

A very special thing happened at the Goo Goo Dolls concert Saturday night at the Missouri State Fair grandstand.

Right there in the middle of the front row during the last song the band played, a marriage proposal took place.

Seems like everyone was in on it, the stage crew, the band, a few close friends and family, etc., except the bride-to-be, Kelsey Anderson.

Her boyfriend of a few years, Antonio Escono got down on one knee while the Goo Goo Dolls played “Iris” and offered Kelsey a ring and all his love.

She said yes. Followed by a nice long kiss and cheers from the Goo Goo Dolls fans in the audience, who witnessed the entire thing on the dual jumbotron screens on the track.

John Joseph Theodore Rzeznik, 58, lead singer of the Good Goo Dolls, noticed the proposal, let the crowd know about what was going on and shouted to Kelsey, “Make sure he has money!"

“Ever since we met, we knew our wedding song would be Iris,” Antonio told KSIS immediately after the concert. “It was just the right place and the right time and there was no better way to just, put a ring on her, once and for all.”

Antonio and Kelsey's relationship began as a campus romance, having met at State Fair Community College as students.

When asked if the happy couple are big Goo Goo Dolls fans, Kelsey responded “Yeah, I love them. I love all their songs. I can't believe they gave me their set list. It's freakin' awesome!”

Mike Stratton, who works the grandstand concerts every year at the Missouri State Fair as a track supervisor, made it happen behind the scenes, along with the rest of the employees there, and presented Kelsey with the set list after the proposal.

“I'm keeping this forever,” Kelsey promised. When this reporter suggested she frame it, she said, “I will.”

So when will she say “I do?”

A date has not yet been set, but Kelsey stated that the Goo Goo Dolls set list will be on display at the wedding, wherever and whenever that happens.

Antonio is originally from the Dominican Republic, but grew up in New York. He is a professional baseball player.

“I play for the Trenton Thunder and I'm going through rebab,” Antonio told KSIS.

The Trenton Thunder is an Major League Baseball Draft League. and Antonio is listed on the roster as a pitcher.

The right-handed pitcher was assigned and activated to the Trenton Thunder July 9. Before that, he was assigned to the Lamar Cardinals in February of 2023.

Kelsey works as a server at Ivory Grille in downtown Sedalia.

“We love baseball, we go to a lot of games together. We're best friends,” Kelsey said.

“So obviously, we just graduated and we want to save up money and have a really nice wedding,” she noted.

As for the proposal, Kelsey said she was totally surprised by the whole thing.

“I was so surprised and when he was singing (Iris), I couldn't stop crying, because I was in shock that this happened. (It's) my favorite song in the world, It has such a deep meaning. How much I love him, and I just got freakin' engaged to that song,” Kelsey said. “And I'm just in awe.”

When this reporter pointed out that Kelsey interrupted the show, she replied “I did! I did! I'm sorry!”

Kelsey gave a big shoutout to Stratton for making this proposal happen.

“Mike Stratton, he works here, he was so much help with all the employees. A big shoutout to him, because he is amazing,” she said.

Antonio concurred. “And the workers, they made it possible. Big shoutout to all of them.”