In 1947 the organisers of the Edinburgh
International Festival planted a seed in
Edinburgh that grew into something artistically
ground breaking and unique - The Edinburgh
Festival Fringe. In 2008 ticket sales almost
reached 1.7 Million dispite a serious ticketing
system problem.

THIS YEARS FRINGE DATES ARE
7th - 31st AUG 09

The International Festival was an invitation only
festival, but in its inaugural year eight groups
arrived uninvited, booked their own venues and
started what became recognised as an entirely new
festival. With no artistic selection or vetting,
everyone was invited. The Fringe was by everybody
for everybody, no one was excluded. Churches were
now theatres, schools now stand-up slots, doorways
became stages. Edinburgh's streets, alleys and
parklands all became Fringe Friendly.
The overwhelming spirit of the Fringe captured
the hearts of Edinburgh's people and this
infectious buzz spread throughout the world.
Indeed there are now around 35 Fringes worldwide.
Each August Edinburgh's population doubles
in size and the city swells to accommodate
850,000+ arts enthusiasts. Complete with
an audience eager to be impressed, the
potential reward for performers in Edinburgh is
massive. Everybody wants to play their part, street
artists, dancers, poets, playwrights, comedians and
musicians all make the necessary pilgrimage to
this performers paradise. Amongst the bold, brave
and ambitious have been; Emma Thompson, Jude Law,
Graham Norton, Johnny Vegas, Robin Williams,
Eddie Izzard and Billy Connolly.

The Fringe has become every worthwhile
performers benchmark. If you can succeed at
the Fringe you can succeed anywhere.

That belief remains today and in 2008,
almost 31,320 performances of 2,088 shows
by 18,700+ performers entertained over
a million people in 247 venues
throughout the city.

 

Many thanks to Owen O'Leary and
those other wonderful people from edfringe.com
for the above (original) text