Want to adopt a porta-potty? Edmonton Fringe festival campaign flush with donors
New fundraiser for street theatre festival has the strange smell of success
One of North America's largest Fringe festivals says a new fundraising campaign that lets donors "adopt" and then name a portable toilet has helped prevent the event from getting dumped.
The executive director of the Edmonton Fringe Festival says the cost of most of its porta-potties, set to be erected across streets and parks during the 11-day event in August, is being offset by donors participating in its Adopt A Porta-Potty campaign.
"I don't think it's very often that I get excited about a porta-potty, but this definitely makes it more exciting than your regular porta-potty visit," said Megan Dart, the festival's executive director.
"The response has been really heartwarming, hilarious and we're so grateful that Fringers have the same sense of humour that we do."
Dart said festival organizers launched the campaign in April, asking people to donate $250 for every mobile toilet needed for the festival, and they have since felt flushed by the support.
She said the campaign allows donors to name the porta-potty after they "adopt" it.
"We have porta-potties that have been named in honour of past technicians who worked in the festival and key folks in our community," she said, noting one that will be called Darcy Turlock, a longtime technical director.
The names of the porta-potties will be stamped on signs on the outside and inside of their doors.
Plans to hang disco balls from the roof inside the mobile toilets have also been suggested by organizers, but Dart said nothing is confirmed.
Dart said the campaign will also cover the cost of the festival's hand-washing stations and the eventual removal of the porta-potties.
"It truly does help us produce the largest, longest running Fringe theatre festival in North America," Dart said of the 44th Fringe festival in Edmonton. "We want to make sure that we're here for generations to come."
She said the COVID-19 pandemic and affordability crisis have changed audience behaviours and made it difficult for Fringe festivals across Canada to keep the lights on.
In March, the Regina International Fringe Festival (RIFF) announced this summer's fringe has been cancelled, but is to return next year.
The curtain fell on this year's RIFF because the organization missed the deadline for a large grant and learned one of its prime venues would be under renovation, board member William Hales said.
Edmonton's festival is set to see 200 independent theatre productions and 1,600 artists this summer.
Dart said she expects all 35 porta-potties to be adopted by the time the festival kicks off in August.
But if the fundraising effort is too crass for some donors, she said they can also contribute through other Fringe fundraising campaigns.