Flint, MI—A new Flint summertime event, Glizzy Fest, will bring together Flint hip hop and rap artists in a showcase designed to highlight local talent and businesses.
The event, which will be headlined by Bootleg from the Dayton Family and Jon Connor will also feature another 15 performers all from the Flint area. Originally planned to be a ’90s themed event, organizer Kerale Cayton got the idea to rebrand to Glizzy Fest after a barbecue whereupon eating four hot dogs, his friends called him a glizzy gobbler.
Cayton said he loves using the word glizzy, which originated in the D.C area as a synonym for hot dog.
“Once they called me a glizzy gobbler, the word stuck in my mind and I was like ‘man, this is good, I’m going to play around with this’ … I made a post about the event to see what the perception of it would be and it got a ton of laughs and shares and people were making jokes,” Cayton said.
After being assured an event with a name like Glizzy Fest would be well received, Cayton said he started planning.
Glizzy Fest will be held inside Buckham Alley on Saturday, July 31. The family-friendly event will start at 5 p.m. and will go on until 8 p.m. During that time, games for kids will spread throughout the alley along with local food and shopping vendors. Hot dogs, of course, will be featured front and center.
Other performances will include Velly Beretta, Brelia Renee and Fortunxte.
“We have everyone covering hip hop, R&B, we’ve got dancers. I wanted to keep it homegrown so I invited as many of the city’s top artists as possible,” Cayton said.
Tickets can be purchased here. Children up to 12 can come in for free, all other tickets start at $10.
It is heart warming to see the young adults in Flint partying and having a good time. It’s definitely been awhile since they have had a venue in Flint to enjoy themselves. Hats off and much love to the promoters. And with no gun violence!!!