The Minnesota Fringe Festival is a performing arts festival held annually at various venues throughout Minneapolis, Minnesota. The tradition of fringe festivals began with the establishment of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1947, and starting in 1991, producers began to establish festivals of their own in the United States. The first Minnesota Fringe Festival took place in 1994, with 53 shows presented at six venues across Minneapolis's Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Although early iterations of the festival included film screenings and visual art exhibitions, the festival later narrowed its focus to performing arts in five categories: comedy, dance, drama, musical, and "something different". During its first four iterations, the festival took place in late June and early July. Since 1998, it has taken place during late July and early August, consistently running for 11 days annually since 2005, when it expanded from a 10-day run.
The festival grew from its inception in 1994, in terms of the number of shows presented, venues occupied, and tickets purchased, to become the largest unjuried fringe festival in the United States, a distinction it held until 2018 when it was overtaken by the Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival and the Washington, D.C., Capital Fringe Festival. In 2010, over 50,000 tickets were sold for the first time, and in 2015, more performances took place (909) and tickets were sold (50,338) than in any other year. The most shows (177) were presented in 2013, and two years, 2004 and 2015, tied for the most venues utilized by the festival, with 24 apiece. This value includes traditional theaters as well as site-specific venues, which can vary from year to year and have included a loading dock, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a moving car.
The 2020 iteration was initially canceled on account of the COVID-19 pandemic before being retooled as an entirely virtual festival. Both live and in-person performances were presented for the 2021 festival, though unlike in previous years, the Minnesota Fringe did not staff in-person venues. The most recent iteration of the festival ran from August 6–16, 2026.
Festivals Year Dates of shows of performances Attendance Venues References 1994 June 23 – July 2 53 315 4,630 6 1995 June 22 – July 3 50 400 5,500 5 1996 June 20–30 46 250 4,464 5 1997 June 19–29 35 — 4,300 5 1998 July 30 – August 9 38200 6,573 6 1999 July 29 – August 8 68 — 15,447 10 2000 July 28 – August 6 100 500 23,000 19 2001 August 3–12 120 — 28,835 21 2002 August 2–11 148 675 32,000 14 2003 August 1–10 162 783 40,500 20 2004 August 6–15 176 900 43,836 24 2005 August 4–14 168 855 44,630 20 2006 August 3–13 165 890 44,814 23 2007 August 2–12 162 872 37,752 23 2008 July 31 – August 10 156 808 40,926 18 2009 July 30 – August 9 162 843 46,189 22 2010 August 5–15 169 876 50,256 15 2011 August 4–14 168 865 48,350 18 2012 August 2–12 164 840 48,432 15 2013 August 1–11 177 897 50,007 16 2014 July 31 – August 10 169 878 50,265 15 2015 July 30 – August 9 174 909 50,338 24 2016 August 4–14 168 869 47,882 19 2017 August 3–13 167 850 46,076 17 2018 August 2–12 138 69436,400 16 2019 August 1–11 142 729 34,440 17 2020 July 30 – August 9 22 22 — n/a 2021 August 5–15 116 260 3,650 12 2022 August 4–14 113 585 21,200 11 2023 August 3–13 101 525 20,000 15 2024 August 1–11 105 500 — 14 2025 July 31 – August 10 99 550 25,000 13 2026 August 6–16 104 540 25,387 13
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