Attendance Grows Significantly at First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival

Attendance at the third annual First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival (September 18-27) grew by 20% in 2014, topping last year's 50,000 by an estimated 10,000 people, say Fringe organizers.

"We're obviously very pleased with the increase, but also feel like this was the year that Fringe really came into its own, in terms of Rochester embracing the experience," says Fringe Producer Erica Fee. "It's a unique festival that seems to be finding a place in people's hearts."

That's just what Fringe organizers were hoping for this year, with their 2014 slogan: "The experience stays with you."

"I was inundated with compliments about this year's Fringe from people who were just excited to share how much they enjoy the festival and now look forward to it every year," reports Suzanne Nasipak-Chapman, First Niagara Rochester Market Executive. "We're proud to be part of such an inspiring event that so perfectly reflects Rochester's creative spirit, and infuses that kind of energy, excitement and creativity essential to our City's revitalization and growth."

Rochester Fringe Festival, a non-profit organization, is run by a board of directors made up of representatives from local arts and cultural institutions, universities and businesses.

"The entire board is gratified that the community has responded so graciously and so enthusiastically," remarks Board Chair Justin L. Vigdor. "Clearly, we feel that the Fringe is here to stay and will become an increasingly anticipated annual event - another contribution to the excellent quality of life we enjoy in this City."

Last year, the multi-genre, multi-venue arts festival became one of the most-attended fringe festivals in the country, buoyed by its large-scale, public event: California aerial dance troupe BANDALOOP, which danced on the side of the 21-story HSBC Plaza. This year, Canadian performance group Circus Orange drew an estimated 10,000 people to Martin Luther King, Jr. Park at Manhattan Square for Friday on the Fringe on September 19. The evening began with free entertainment - from dance groups to jugglers to bands including Sisters of Murphy - in multiple areas of the park. Then came Circus Orange's spectacular, hour-long show called TRICYCLE, featuringan18-foot, fire-breathing tricycle that wove its way through the crowd, before rising 60 feet in the air for an eye-popping, fireworks-filled finale.

Over at One Fringe Place across from Eastman Theatre, headliners in the Magic Crystal Spiegeltent included the world-premiere MARDI GRAS! by Cirque du Fringe, 20 Penny Circus, Saturday Night Live comedian Jay Pharoah, and the return of Silent Disco - all with sold-out performances. The adjacent Spiegelgarden hostedPedestrian Drive-In, FuturPointe Dance and much more to large and enthusiastic crowds, while site-specific shows Bushwacked: Two Women, a Tent, and You (in a pup tent) and Dashboard Dramas (in four parked cars) sold out their mini-venues. Gospel Sunday, which was moved from the Spiegelgarden into nearby Sproull Atrium due to weather on September 21, was an overflow success with a line out the door for the entire two-hour event.

Gibbs Street - closed to traffic on the Fringe's final Friday evening (9/26) and all day Saturday (9/27) - was the site of two unforgettable performances of Spoon River Rochester, the largest-ever performance of Edgar Lee Masters' classic Spoon River Anthology. Almost 300 Rochester-area residents in white and gray costumes and makeup - including Mayor Lovely Warren - recited their characters' epitaphs while audience members walked among them. Free, family-friendly, daytime entertainment, including Chalk Art and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Interactive Outdoor Movie and Costume Parade, transitioned into evenings filled with live music from The Campbell Brothers, Thunder Body and many others. Altogether, Spiegelgarden and Gibbs Street attendance during the festival is estimated at 22,250.

The ticketed and free shows in the remaining Fringe venues - which program their own lineups from artist applications - made up the bulk of the more than 380 shows and events: Bernunzio Uptown Music, Blackfriars Theatre, Eastman School of Music (Kilbourn Hall & Sproull Atrium), Gallery r, Garth Fagan Dance Studio,George Eastman House's Dryden Theatre, Geva Theatre Center Nextstage and Café, Java's Café, The Little Theatre 1 and Café, MuCCC, RAPA's East End Theatre, Rochester Contemporary Arts Center (RoCo),TheatreROCS Stage at Xerox Auditorium, and Writers & Books.

"We're thrilled with the First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival's artistic successes in this third year, and the large numbers of people who came out to attend our shows," says Writers & Books Development Director Alexa Scott-Flaherty. "We had 11 sold-out shows and more than 1,200 audience members over the course of the festival. The First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival has definitely caught on!

More than 21,000 Fringe tickets were purchased for this year's 10-day festival, and over 50 ticketed performances sold out, including PUSH Physical Theatre at Kilbourn Hall, and Intrepid and BIODANCE at Geva Theatre Center.

"We saw a dramatic increase in attendance this year during Fringe at the Geva Nextstage," adds Artistic DirectorMark Cuddy. "The variety of family, adult, and late-night programming really hit many communities and we felt 2014 was a big success."

Venues that offered free, non-ticketed shows - including The Little Theatre and Café (RIT faculty and students exclusively) and Java's Café - also saw capacity crowds for many of their performances, with more than 5,800 people attending. Area businesses saw greater engagement in terms of financial rewards as well.

Says Java's owner Mike Calabrese: "We couldn't keep up with all people at the Java's coffee truck, and the Café was packed every night during Fringe!"