Experiencing The Rochester Fringe Festival: One of the Largest, Most Attended Fringe Fests in the US

The Rochester Fringe Festival attracts over one hundred thousand people annually, and that’s for a lot of good reasons. It’s very much “choose-your-own-adventure” as you’ll have over 500 hundred shows at your fingertips in a variety of different venues. The best part? It’s just getting better as the years go by.

I’ve been fortunate over the years to get the chance to return to Rochester again and again. I’ve spent time at one of my favourite museums in the US, the George Eastman Museum, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the Memorial Art Gallery, the Susan B. Anthony Museum and House, and so much more.

But, there has been something that I was looking to return to Rochester to do, and to experience in-depth - and that was enveloping myself in the experience that is the Rochester Fringe Festival.

Many people don’t realize that the Rochester Fringe Fest regularly attracts over 100,000 attendees, which makes it one of the largest fringe festivals in the United States.

A fringe festival, for those unfamiliar, is a theatre-centric sort of celebration which aims to highlight non-traditional and often small-scale productions and performances - simply for the sake it. At a very basic level, it’s a chance to experience and appreciate some talent that you might not have seen otherwise (and acceptance can even sometimes be based on a lottery system).

I think of it as a chance to expand my horizons, as I’ve seen many fringe performances around the world that have left an indelible mark on me. I haven’t always loved every single thing that I saw, but I’ve never been unhappy that I went and saw it.

A Bit More About the Rochester Fringe Festival

The Rochester Fringe Festival was founded back in 2012, and has been held annually ever since. Nowadays, It’s typically held for 12 days in the middle of September.

Since its inception, it’s grown massively, and it’s not uncommon to find over 500 events and performances attached to those twelve aforementioned days.

As they themselves note:

“Since debuting in 2012, the Fringe has drawn more than a half-million visitors from all over the world to nearly 4,000 diverse performances and events. In fact, Rochester’s not-for-profit Fringe has become one of the largest and most successful fringe festivals in the nation, the largest multidisciplinary performing arts festival in New York State, and one of the region’s most anticipated festivals each year.”

The history of fringe festivals starts with the Edinburgh International Festival. The term “fringe” was born out off the fact that the eight theatre groups that combined to start the festival were often performing on the edge of established festival venues - or, “in the fringes.”

There are now over 50 fringe fests in the US, with Rochester being up there as one of the most famous.

A Brief History of the Rochester Fringe Festival

In 2012, it was just a five day festival, but it immediately attracted some big names such as Patton Oswalt and the Harlem Gospel Choir. The very next year, they doubled the length of the festival, and were now operating out of more than 20 venues.

By 2017, almost 80,000 people were attending annually, and in 2018 it took the crown for the largest multi-arts festival in New York State.

In 2019, they expanded it to 12 days to much applause from both locals and visitors. This marked the first time they crossed the 100,000 attendee mark. As you might imagine, there was some difficulties in running an event like this in 2020 and 2021 (and much of it was done virtually), but I can say that they are back now and better than ever.

Some Key Details

There are venues and acts that take place across the city (and that’s a big part of the fun, especially when you come across an act you don’t expect), but the headquarters is One Fringe Place. You’ll find it across the street from the Eastman Theatre, and there’s nightly shows there along with a bar, ample food trucks, and a very photogenic “Spigelgarden.”
The emphasis on free, immersive outdoor spectacles, and the lack of a gap between patron and performer has come to be known worldwide as “The Rochester Model.”
Performances are selected on a bifurcated system. “Organizers present a handful of special events, but the vast majority are curated by the venues themselves from artists’ applications. That’s why the lineup is so astoundingly diverse and creative. Why you’ll see surprising new performances here for the first time. And why the choices for entertainment are vast.”
You can purchase tickets online or at The Fringe Box Office (at the corner of Main and Gibbs).
If you’re wondering what you’ll see, it can be anything from music to comedy, theatre to dance, film to performance art, and everything in between.
They are aiming to become 100% inclusive and that means they are focused on accessibility. If you have any concerns around accessibility, please head here for more information.
If you’re looking to volunteer or donate, simply head to their website.
If you’re a performer, you can create an account and monitor the status of your submission here. You’ll want to carefully read their “Before You Apply” page. Good luck, maybe I’ll see YOU there next year.
If you’ve got questions, you can always fire an email off to info@rochesterfringe.com.

The 2022 Rochester Fringe Festival

The 2022 Rochester Fringe Fest was the 11th annual edition of this now famous gathering. There were more than 500 shows and events (including 130 that were free), across 34 traditional and site-specific venues.

As I noted above, the bifurcated model means that, for the most part, it’s the festival itself that curates those large-scale, public shows, and the venues that curate their own performances.

Erica Fee, Festival Producer, reflected on this year’s edition noting:

"We were thrilled to bring the joy and wonder of live performance back to our community on a grand scale."

More than 30% of this year’s ticketed shows were fully sold out, a number that will very likely be even higher next year.

What Sort of Performances And Events Headlined the 2022 Fringe Fest?

The world premiere of The Flying Españas in Flippin Metal Circus, which is a heavy-metal, psychadelic performance.
The absolutely incredible aerial dance company BANDALOOP who quite literally danced down the 21 story Five Star Plaza building.
Cirque du Fringe: Afterglow, performances every night, and the show I saw this time around, which was beyond entertaining.
US premiere of C’est Pas Là, C’est Par Là (It’s Not Here, It’s Over Here) hailing from Marseille, France but conceived of by South Korean street artist Juhyung Lee.
A physical cabaret show known as Late & Live.
A Kids Day which featured chalk art, pumpkin painting, and plenty of dancing and fun.
Nightly movies in the Spiegelgarden. This year they showed a wide variety of movies. Everything from The Wizard of Oz to Dreamgirls to Cabaret.
A Guinness World Record attempt for the largest juggling lesson.

While I would recommend getting tickets to a variety of performances, I do want to stress that it’s almost as important to sometimes head to areas where you know things are happening and see what you experience. During fringe, there’s a undeniable buzz about the city, and some of my favourite memories have been some of the things I’ve happened across totally by accident.

Mark Next Year’s Event on Your Calendar

One thing that’s clear to me is that this Fringe Fest aims to make each year better than the last, and that’s why I’m more than happy to make the drive down to Rochester each and every year if I’m able to. It’s just plain inspiring, and you leave with a plethora of ideas, and some awfully great photos.

More than that, during this recent Fringe, I came on my own, but every event or show I attended, I ended up meeting people who welcomed me in.

The nature of the event tends to mean that the people attending are accepting, welcoming, and ready to strike up a conversation, and, in my humble opinion, we can use as much as that attitude in today’s day and age as we can get. That’s what makes it easy to justify a visit to the ever eccentric, remarkably memorable, Rochester Fringe Fest.

I want to humbly thank Madden Media & Visit Rochester for hosting me as media. All opinions are completely my own.

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