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A Fringe Festival By Any Other Name

Organizers say this year's First Niagara Fringe Festival was a huge success with more people attending than ever, and record breaking ticket sales.

Around 67,000 thousand people attended, up from 63,000 last year, and ticket sales eclipsed $400,000.

That's according to festival producer Erica Fee.

She says with the merger of First Niagara and KeyBank, there will be a new title sponsor next year, and that's important.

It will be known as the KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival next year.

"It's very important for the success of the Fringe, and to be able to continue to provide so many shows at either relatively low cost, or on a totally free basis," she said.

Credit Alex Crichton
Erica Fee

Jim Barger is KeyBank Rochester Market President.

"It really showcases the arts in Rochester, so I couldn't be more pleased to support it, in 2017," he said.

Fee says next year should be bigger and better.

"We will expect more innovative performances, we can't announce any of them yet, but we are already working on our big free spectacle performance for 2017. I think it's going to be incredible," she said.

This year's outdoor spectacle featured the STREB Extreme Action Company. They have been described as hardware-propelled acrobats.

The 2017 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival runs September 14th through the 23rd.