‘There’s something for everyone’: Edmonton Fringe Festival returns for 44th year

Organizers have started setting up for the 2025 Fringe Festival in Edmonton's Old Strathcona. CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti has the story.

Over 1,600 artists from nine countries come to the heart of Old Strathcona next week for the 44th-annual Edmonton International Fringe Festival.

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It’s North America’s largest and longest-running fringe theatre festival and runs this year from Aug. 14 to 24.

“There’s something for everyone at Fringe,” said Executive Director Megan Dart.

This year’s event features over 200 indoor theatre showings, two outdoor stages with more than 40 performers, a KidsFringe, audio tour and even a holdover series for those who missed a show they really wanted to see.

This year, Dart said the big-picture focus of the event is to “close that gap between rising expenses and stagnating funding.”

Artists set their own ticket prices, and 100 per cent of that price goes directly into their pockets. Show tickets for indoor theatre productions range from $9 to $20, and some shows offer discount pricing for kids, students and seniors.

Dart estimates that that’s more than $1.3 million put back into the pockets of artists, with a large chunk of it staying in Alberta’s economy.

“Over our 11 days of festival … our local shops, our businesses, our bars, our restaurants, all thrive. When Fringe thrives, we create jobs,” Dart said.

What is Fringe?

Fringe theatre is known for its risk-taking and community-creating.

Their website says once you’re at the festival, you can’t go wrong because “fringing is about escaping into the unknown and taking creative risks.”

The productions and patios aren’t the only places to have fun there, either. For example, this year, all the port-a-potties have been adopted and named after their “parents.”

“It started as a bit of an April Fool’s joke,” Dart said. “We launched this campaign to name port-a-potties and our community really responded. We are so grateful that they have a great sense of humour.”

The media kickoff on Aug. 6 saw previews of upcoming productions like Rats Academy Two: Gnaw and Order, a story about the last two rats in famously rat-free Alberta.

“The Fringe is a place where everybody comes together and they celebrate what it means to be an artist,” said Dayna Lea-Hoffman, who plays the rat named Fingers.

Fingers and Shrimp, or actor Katie Yoner, have been doing the festival across North America for three years now and said it’s a great opportunity to celebrate the weird, the wild and the heartwarming.

“It gives you a little break from the hard day-to-day life and working kind of thing,” Lea-Hoffman said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti