Winnipeg Fringe Festival wraps up after most successful run since pre-pandemic

The Winnipeg Fringe Festival wraps up Sunday evening after what organizers say has been a hugely successful run, with the highest audience turnout since before the pandemic.

“We’ve had a fantastic lineup of shows, and fringers have been so excited to go out and share the love of theatre and attend all these amazing performances,” said Chuck McEwen, the executive producer of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

“Well you know it’s been a great festival. Up until today, up until earlier this morning, we’d already broken our ticket sales numbers from last year’s and our box office revenues back to the artist, just under 82,000 ticketed attendance, hopefully the weather will clear a bit and we’ll get closer to 85 if all things go well.”

This year’s festival offered 145 shows in total, with a wide variety of options from comedy to drama to shows for kids. McEwen credits word of mouth and positive reviews for high attendance.

“We’ve got over 1,000 patron reviews, plus all the regular media, and they’ve been sharing their thoughts about the plays they’ve been seeing, which I think has been driving attendance numbers. I think overall, people have been having a fantastic time,” said McEwen.

One fringe fest goer that CityNews spoke to said, “It gets people into the spirit of the culture and theatre, and things like that, which is going to make the city grow that much more with all that arts and entertainment, and kinda get them in young, get them in at this level, I think it’s awesome. I’ve been participating in the Fringe probably for about 30 years.”

Another saying, “I’ve been to 27 shows, I love it, I’m addicted, I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow.”

While another festival goer said, “Oh, it’s been very good, yeah, we’ve really enjoyed it, my wife and I have gone the last six nights in a row and we’ve been entertained every time. So it’s been a great time.”