ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Fringe Festival is celebrating its 15th year, having drawn more than one million visitors to Rochester during that time.
News10NBC’s Tom Kowalski visited local venues to see how this year’s attendance has impacted their businesses. Erica Fee, president of the Rochester Fringe Festival, spoke at the festival’s launch party last week about the importance of these shows.
“Part of our mission is to bring new audiences into our venues to ensure that we have a healthy arts ecosystem,” Fee said.
The Little Theatre on East Avenue has seen a steady flow of attendees this year. Director of Communications Scott Pukos said the festival is always popular at their venue.
“Fringe Festival is always really popular here. We host free shows from RIT students. So we bring in a lot of new crowds, a lot of college students,” Pukos said.
The theatre is showing RIT student films this year. According to an RIT representative, they’ve had 14 shows since Friday, with the highest attended one having 160 guests — typical numbers from what they’ve seen in previous years. Pukos said the festival is also great for their concessions sales.
“We get to introduce people to Little popcorn, which is great…People come and they all get concession. So that’s always nice to do. And you’re you’re packing the theater. And again, our Fringe performances are free. But it’s still nice to come in and get some concession sales, too,” Pukos said.
The Little Theatre isn’t the only venue benefiting from the increase in attendees. Hector Alaya from the Inn on Broadway said they saw a good flow of people Thursday, a night that’s typically slow as everyone starts school again.
“Typically Thursdays, you know, with everyone starting school again, it’s usually typically slow. But we did see a good flow. We had probably anywhere from 25 to 30 people come in for each show,” Alaya said.
The Inn on Broadway hosts two weekly comedy/trivia shows on Thursday nights for the Fringe; and is also an official hotel partner. Executive Chef Ramiz Jasie said the festival brings a boost at a time when business begins to cool, especially with the recent renovation of the Gio’s Prime 26 dining room.
“We’ve definitely had an influx, anywhere between 20 up to 40, you know, on the waiting list for us going into the weekend. So, the Fringe Fest has definitely brought out the Rochester foodies,” Jasie said.
The final day of the festival is Saturday. Pete Davidson will be performing standup comedy at the Eastman Theatre on Friday.
Rochester’s Fringe Festival is good for more than just the shows — local businesses are feeling the boost too WHEC.com.
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