Hamilton Fringe Festival smashes attendance records

Hamilton’s Fringe Festival saw a massive jump in attendance this year – with a 44 per cent increase in ticket sales from 2013, organizers announced Monday.

The festival is growing with paid attendance for shows having more than doubled since 2012.

“The Fringe is so grateful to all of the incredible artists, volunteers, and the audiences who have helped to make this festival such a success,” the festival’s organizers said in an email.

“We're already looking forward to the 2015 Festival.”

The 2014 Fringe Festival ran for 11 days in July, and presented 318 different performances for 44 shows. That led to $75,357 in box office revenue.

The festival also announced the winners of the 2014 festival awards:

• Best of Fringe: Bootlegger's Wife (Savoury Entertainment)
• Critics’ choice award: Romeo & Juliet: An Escapist Comedy (Make Art Theatre)
• Audience choice award: Places (Broken Soil Theatre)

And the awards for best in venue:

• Hamilton Theatre Inc: Jester’s Incognito (HAW! Productions)
• Citadel Theatre: Fast Food Love: The Musical! (Big Bang & Company)
• Theatre Aquarius: Bootlegger's Wife (Savoury Entertainment)
• Mills Hardware: The Great Canadian Tire Money Caper (Local Rascal Productions)
• Best in BYOV (Bring your own venue): The Yellow Wallpaper (A Company of Players)
• Best in Gallery mini-Series: Suitcase: The Untold Story of Evelyn Dick (Aperio Theatre)