GLIZZYFEST 2026: STAND ON GLIZZNESS!

Story and Photos: Spencer Fleming

It was raining hot dogs in Benson this weekend! The second annual Glizzyfest took place over three days (April 17-19), and this year the glizness was expanded to include both the Waiting Room and Reverb Lounge.

Every once in a blue moon Waiting Room and Reverb will open the "secret passageway" that connects the two clubs for multiple stages of music. With the weather being quite chilly this was a lifesaver for Glizzyfest. The vendors selling all types of hotdog wares and uniquely crafted items had plenty of space in the Waiting Room and by the time headline acts like Bobo Thuh Bread Boy, Jay Influential, Forest, and Otis Julius played, the Reverb stage was packed!

My family and I attended the biggest day of the festival, Saturday the 18th and we had a blast! We had our faces painted by Wonderland Omaha face painting, ate tons of hot dogs and got to chop it up with our favorite mullet-sporting rapper Otis Julius!!

I've started to lose count on how many times we've seen Otis, but you can never have too much of the juice! Otis and Straw worked really hard putting together a set that had everyone in the room on their feet from the first note to the last fist-pumping beat.

Otis incorporated a bunch of hot-dog themed videos like throwback Pizza Hut and Ball Park Frank commercials which added to the already hyped atmosphere. Since Otis is sober he threw hot dogs and Mountain Dews into the crowd and everyone ate it up, literally!!

There were floating hot dog rafts, kids on stage, and a wall of high-fives! If you've never seen an Otis Julius set, what are you doing with your life?? During the show Otis announced he has a new album coming and he'll be throwing a pizza party in Omaha for the release date!! Mark your calendars for June 13 at the Waiting Room. There will be wall to wall pizza and one of the best hip-hop shows around. Bring the whole family!

I have to give a huge shout out to Justin Strawstone and Nice Enough Entertainment. Justin and his wife Kayla worked tirelessly to bring this festival to life. What started as a little joke has turned into the Midwest's premier mixed-genre food and music festival. I know Straw had to weather some storms this year and really pivot when things started to go south but his family looked into the eye of the hurricane and said "Bring it on!" There were so many smiles on Saturday I know the community really appreciated everything Straw and Kayla did to make this happen.

Straw and Kayla are already hard at work for Glizzyfest 2027 so make sure to give Nice Enough Entertainment a follow on all socials so you can keep up with all the great shows they have coming up!