State of the Arts Blog

2010 Minnesota Fringe Festival sets attendance record

50,256: that's how many tickets were issued during this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival.

It's the first time the festival has issued more than 50,000 tickets in its 17-year history.

That's an 8.7% increase in attendance over last year's festival.

I say "issued" instead of "sold" because a portion of those tickets are comps.

The number of people attending the Fringe went up as well; nearly 17,000 festival admission buttons were issued in 2010 compared to last years 15,267. That means the average button holder attended roughly three shows.

Finally, the Minnesota Fringe Festival took in 12.9% more cash this year, too. The 169 productions earned over $355,000 in ticket sales over the course of 11 days.