ZooFest Turns 53: Two Days, One Alley, All Killer
Fifty-three years ago, a blues-loving bassist named Larry Boehmer booked a band into a skinny downtown bar and accidentally founded an institution. This weekend, July 10 and 11, the Zoo Bar throws the party that celebrates it — ZooFest, the club's annual outdoor bash, once again spilling out of 136 North 14th and taking over the alley.
The number this year is 53, and the lineup earns it. Friday opens at 5 p.m. with Midwest blues-rockers the Bel Airs, followed by New Orleans-via-Austin favorites the Iguanas at 7. Then the night tips into serious territory: saxophonist and singer Vanessa Collier — a multiple Blues Music Award winner who plays sax and sings at the same time, which should not be possible — takes the 9 p.m. slot, with the Midland Band closing at 11.
Saturday is the marathon: gates at noon, music from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. Blue Raven Project starts it, Church of Blues and the Texas Blues Guitar Summit keep the temperature up, and Lincoln's own rockabilly lifers the Mezcal Brothers hit at 7. The headline belongs to Sugaray Rayford at 9 — the Texas-born, gospel-raised soul-blues powerhouse whose live show is less concert than tent revival — before Groove Lagoon sends everyone home at 11.
The economics are refreshingly un-festival-like. Single-day tickets are $35, a two-day pass is $60, and after 10 p.m. either night you walk in for $10. Kids 12 and under get in free with an adult, which tells you exactly what kind of festival this is: a neighborhood one.
That neighborhood detail matters. ZooFest isn't a corporate summer series parachuted onto a lawn; it's a working blues bar's birthday, thrown in the same downtown blocks where Magic Slim, Luther Allison and a half-century of touring greats have played. The bill mixes national names with Lincoln bands on purpose — the Mezcal Brothers sharing a Saturday with Sugaray Rayford is the whole point, not a compromise.
A word on the Mezcals specifically: catch them while you can. After nearly three decades, the band has been openly framing recent shows as a farewell run, which would make their 7 p.m. Saturday set one of a shrinking number of hometown dates.
Practical notes: it's an outdoor July weekend in Nebraska, so plan for heat by day, and know that the after-10 price break is designed to fill the alley late. If you only make one day, Saturday is the deeper bill — but Friday's Vanessa Collier set is the kind of thing you'll be smug about having seen.
Fifty-three years in, the Zoo Bar could coast on legacy. Instead it throws a party, charges you less than a chain restaurant dinner, and books it like the streak still has to be earned. Bring cash for the merch table. Bring earplugs for Sugaray.
Sources: ZooFest — The Zoo Bar; ZooFest 2026 lineup detail; The Zoo Bar — About