Edmonton’s annual performing arts free-for-all festival is wrapping up Sunday with a new attendance record. Organizers for the 45th annual Edmonton Internation Fringe Festival said a record 825,000 people visiting the festival’s sites in and around Old Stratchona, with 142,000 tickets sold to its 209 indoor productions. That includes records of 550 sold-out shows, 24 sold-out runs and $1.53 million going back to artists, the festival said Sunday in a media release. The 11-day spectacle is North America’s largest and longest-running Fringe Festival, and was expected to contribute more than $20 million in economic impact locally, the festival said. Megan Dart, executive director of the festival, said she believes more people are coming to the Fringe as the COVID-19 pandemic fades from memories and because of the organization’s focus on audience engagement. “We hear from our Fringe hospitality neighbours that Fringe is the best 11 days of the year,” she told reporters on Sunday afternoon. “The site has been busy but so, too, have the local businesses.” Eleven shows have been held over for the coming week – two of them, The Butter Chicken Odyssey and Bean Stalk Market Crash, are already sold out – and will be staged at a pair of theatres in the heart of the south-side Fringe site just north of Whyte Avenue between Gateway Boulevard and Calgary Trail. Last year, organizers said the Fringe set an all-time box office record with 138,500 tickets sold. They also said the 2025 edition saw 490 sold-out performances and 14 sold-out runs, with $1.47 million going back to artists.
