A Guide to the Vancouver Fringe Festival

The Vancouver International Fringe Festival takes place every fall. For about ten days it unleashes a dizzying array of one act plays, one person shows, performance art, cabaret, standup comedy, audience participation, puppet theater and more. Basically anything you can think of can be found at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, along with a lot of things you would never think of. But thankfully, someone did.

The fringe theater movement began in Scotland of all places, when the Edinburgh theater festival had more troupes than space, and those who didn't get in decided to stage their shows anyway around the "fringes" of the main festival. Since then fringe theater has expanded around the world and become its own genre - sort of the way "off Broadway" means more now than just a location. Fringe theater is definitely the right term for it!

If you love art that knows how to have fun, and especially if you've been looking for an excuse to come to Vancouver anyway, the Vancouver Fringe Festival is a great time to visit.

Travel
You can get flights into Vancouver from pretty much anywhere. If you're on a budget, though, you may find it cheaper to fly into Seattle and then go the rest of the way by ground. There are bus services that will take you from the Seattle airport across the border and straight into downtown Vancouver. (Search for "Vancouver Seattle shuttle bus") For whatever reason, there's enough of a price difference between flights into the two airports that you may be able so save some money this way.

Staying and Getting Around
Once you arrive, you won't need a car - and you really wouldn't want to try and park one anyway. The Festival events are mainly on Granville Island or downtown. Most of them are within walking distance of the main downtown hotels. Granville Island in particular is a compact and crowded space packed with shops and theaters and restaurants, and parking there is next to impossible - especially during the Fringe Festival. Vancouver's got a good public transit system and that's your best bet.

As for hotels, there is actually one hotel on Granville Island, but it may be hard getting a reservation during the festival. (Worth a try though...) But Vancouver's downtown is studded with hotels for all price ranges from fancy luxury hotels like the Sheraton Wall and the Sutton Place to more affordable Holiday Inns, and even ultra-affordable hostels. Search around and you should be able to find something in your price range that will get you close to the Fringe Festival.

One trick to be aware of is the water taxis across False Creek. This is by far the quickest and easiest way to reach Granville Island from downtown. Otherwise you have to get across one of the bridges and then make your way back around to the one point where Granville Island connects to the mainland. There are a couple different water taxi operations with docks at several points along the south shore of downtown. (Search for "Granville Island Ferries" and "Aquabus.")

What to See
Well, that's the trick, isn't it? The Vancouver Fringe Festival is a carnival of cool shows going on all over town all the time. You're just going to have to find a schedule and make some tough choices. You won't be able to do this too early. The details are often not finalized until pretty close to the festival as acts sometimes have to drop out to be replaced by acts from the waiting list. Tickets typically go on sale sometime in August.

So you may not be able to work out exactly what you're going to see and when too far in advance. But the acts themselves are chosen months ahead of time and the Vancouver Fringe Festival web site will give you an overview of what to expect. And part of the fun is discovering odd things you love because you couldn't get in to what you were planning to see. There's a sort of unofficial grapevine of buzz running through the festival that can let you know which shows are hot if you listen closely.

Consider Volunteering
If you really want to get an inside view of the Vancouver Fringe Festival, they're always looking for volunteers. Volunteering is a great way to meet fascinating people from around the world and see the Festival from the inside out. Volunteers also get some nice benefits, including a Rush Pass for free admission to any show that's got seats left, and free rides on the Aquabus.

However you choose to approach it, the Vancouver Fringe Festival is a great time in a great city, at a time of year that's usually got gorgeous, comfortable weather. It's worth checking out.