Murray Wood: Who's hot and who's not
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Saskatoon Fringe Festival has returned for another year along Broadway Avenue.
City construction projects like on the Broadway Bridge, have not stopped the fun, music and drama.
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The festival runs until Aug. 9 in W E Graham Park and on 11th Street East, and operations manager Katie Blackburn-Dust said not too much has been affected.
“Of course there is lots of construction to contend with … but our festival site is still here,” she said.
“As per usual there are some parking restrictions in place for a two block radius around the festival site … there is some construction in front of Victoria School, but we are still there on the other lanes.”
Blackburn-Dust said no changes had to be made because of the construction and that it was business as usual.
She said with Link rapid bus transit system platform construction underway in the area, many people have chosen a new way of getting to the festival.
“Scooters are always great to see, and we do have a complimentary bike valet in the W E Graham Park. We’re seeing lots of folks on bikes and that’s awesome.
“We’ve had a really great first couple of days of our festival,” said Blackburn-Dust.
“Our theatre performances are looking good and we hope to see them continue to trend upwards. We’ve had a really great vibe down in the park.”
It can be quite the competition for the festival to keep the vibes high with the sights and sounds of construction nearby.
“… I’m hearing lots of our musicians performing,” said Blackburn-Dust.
“So while the construction site is still there, I think the sounds of the fringe are what is prevailing.”
There lots for people to see and do at this year’s festival.
“Aug. 2 to 4 we are on Broadway for Broadway days, supported by the Broadway Business Improvement District,” she said.
“We’ve got a whole bunch of vendors on 11th Street and on Broadway, we have outdoor performers, and we have indoor theatre performances from around the world.”
There are also carnival games, youth workshops, as well as artisan vendors, outdoor buskers, jugglers and food trucks.
Some of the performers even come from overseas.
“This year we’ve got a lot of people from England,” said festival manager Philippa Williams.
“We have a lot of folk artists joining us from the States … we’ve got a show this year that is a local company but they’re actually Iranian.”
Williams said there is a lot of culture for people to take in, appreciate and learn about.
She also said the team they have this year is tremendous and a lot of the acts from outside of Canada are great to work with.
“A lot of buskers, some of them come from Australia and they pay all their fees to be here,” she said.
— with files from CKOM News
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