Fringe Festival on track for record-breaking year since pandemic

The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival is cheering after ticket sales for the event returned to pre-pandemic numbers.

As the curtain closes on the Edmonton Fringe Festival this weekend, organizers say there’s a lot to celebrate – like the fact ticket sales are soaring back to pre-pandemic levels.

A media release on Friday announced that the Fringe Festival has already had its best year since 2019.

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“The outpouring of support from our community has helped us build a more stable foundation from which we can continue to support the Fringe Festival,” said executive director Megan Dart in an interview Friday.

Like many arts organizations across the country, she said, their financial reality has been dire as the cost of producing an event the size of the 223-performance, 40-stage festival rises exponentially as funding supports dwindle.

Last March, Fringe Festival organizers initiated the Sustain Fringe Campaign, which has gone from 34 monthly donors to a whopping 657 – over 100 of which joined in the last couple of days.

Dart also credits their April Fool’s joke of sponsoring port-a-potties for bringing in money.

And of course, it doesn’t hurt that according to Dart, they’re 13,000 sold tickets ahead of where the festival was this time last year.

They’ve already surpassed the $1.3 million from box office sales they were able to give back to the artists. Dart partially attributes those sales to people realizing they may need the arts now more than ever in this day and age.

And with stellar weather on the docket this weekend, she’s hopeful for a banner weekend, because the increase in the festival’s revenue means the chance for artists to tell their stories.

“I think Fringe is part of our civic fabric. It’s woven into our identity as Edmontonians, and it has been supported so enthusiastically,” Dart said.

“It’s what makes our city so vibrant. It’s what attracts visitors here. It’s what brings joy to our lives. There’s an intangibility to what the festival offers, and we’re just so grateful.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Sean McClune