Saskatoon's Fringe Festival wraps up with record breaking year

The 2015 PotashCorp Fringe Festival had a record breaking year.

The 10-day festival wrapped up over the weekend and executive director Robert Wyma said it was a huge success.

“The gross gate on theatre ticket sales was up by 10 per cent. Typically we would see a one or two per cent change but to see a 10 per cent change is something we are celebrating,” he said.

“I think if you look at the 33 shows we had at this year’s PotashCorp Fringe, there was just a base of quality that I think the community of Saskatoon really embraced and came out to see in very large numbers.”

Wyma did not have the numbers for people taking advantage of the food and entertainment on the street but said that it was larger than he’d ever seen.

“I felt this year the theatre and the street festival both came together and people really celebrated,” he said, adding it was packed right from the start.

“When I tried to seat one of our staff at preview night at the Broadway Theatre, which started one day before the festival opened, there were no seats in the theatre. That meant there were over 450 people there watching previews of all the plays we were putting out. That’s the first time I ever saw that.”

Wyma added that with likely every food truck in the city making a stop on the street during the festival, they picked up some new fans who came for a snack. 

“There is a constituency out there that discovered the festival itself because food is such an attraction,” he said.

Although the festival is over, Wyma’s work is not done yet.

“We are getting to work on Monday with fresh eyes and try and figure out how to do it better next year,” he said. “The blueprint for next year is based on the success that we had this year.”

kmalone@rawlco.com

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