An estimated 60,000 people attended the third annual First
Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival, up from 50,000 attendees last year, festival
organizers announced today. The Rochester Fringe Festival ran September 18
through September 27 with more than 380 shows across 28 venues in and around
downtown Rochester.
“We’re obviously very pleased with the increase,” said
Fringe Producer Erica Fee. “But we also feel like this was the year that Fringe
really came into its own, in terms of Rochester embracing the experience. It’s
a unique festival that seems to be finding a place in people’s hearts.”
More than 21,000 tickets were sold for performances, with
around 50 ticketed performances selling out, including PUSH Physical Theatre’s
performance in Kilbourn Hall, and “Intrepid” and
BIODANCE’s performances at Geva Theatre Center,
organizers said.
Writers & Books hosted 11 sold-out shows, with more than
1,200 attendees over the course of the festival, said Alexa Scott-Flaherty,
Writers & Books Development Director.
“We’re thrilled with the Frist Niagara Rochester Fringe
Festival’s artistic successes in this third year, and the large numbers of
people who came out to attend our shows,” Scott-Flaherty said.
The 2013 festival, with more than 50,000 attendees, made the
Rochester Fringe Festival into one of the most-attended fringe festivals in the
country, and one of the largest multi-arts festivals in New York State.
The Rochester Fringe Festival will return in September 2015.
According to the Fringe Festival, attendance figures are
based on modern crowd estimation techniques using a standardized formula as
well as by venue counts and ticket sales.
This article appears in Oct 1-7, 2014.
