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The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival is big business -- and not just for the 141 performing companies angling to pack their venues.
With more than 70,000 attendees milling about the Exchange District site during the festival's 11-day run, area businesses can see a big increase in foot traffic while the fringe is in swing.
"It's controlled chaos," Line-Up owner Bryan Maternick says with a laugh. "We have to co-ordinate things much better."
His restaurant's patio opens onto the fringe's hub at Old Market Square, making it prime dining real estate during the event. Evening food and drink sales are up by 30 per cent over a normal summer week. "This year, especially, it seems like a lot more people are down here... maybe because the weather is being co-operative. It's great for the whole area."
Art supply store Artist's Emporium has also seen an estimated 30 per cent increase in shoppers, including performers who pop in to buy materials for backdrops.
"People who didn't know we were here before are coming in and browsing, and they do come back," says Emporium clerk Joan Szucs.
To capitalize on the once-a-year buzz, some businesses stay flexible for fringe. Cake Clothing (which is moving around the corner from its McDermot Avenue location in August) keeps its Albert Street side door open during the festival to entice more passers-by, and the Fyxx coffee shop's signboard advertises fringe to-go specials.
Retro clothing and furniture store Hooper's stays open far past its normal 6 p.m. closing time.
"The average close is around 10 p.m. on weekends during fringe," says store worker Bryan Burt, who can tell when nearby shows are ending by the sudden spurt of customers.
"The foot traffic at least doubles, and includes a lot of people who haven't been in our store before. Fringe is the busiest time of year."
Not all businesses, though, are so enthused about the fringe. Gaming store Imagine, which is marking its second summer on McDermot Avenue, "gets much more foot traffic, but the sales are abysmal," says owner Wendy Spearly. "People are mostly killing time between shows, but they don't want to have bags of stuff in their laps during a show." Meanwhile, the fringe's effect on area parking keeps her regular customers away.
Still, Spearly looks forward to adapting to the event.
"Next year, we're planning on using it as advertising," she says, noting that Imagine will be featuring special contests for the 2009 fringe. "People are coming in, so hopefully they'll go home and tell their friends, 'Hey Bob, you'd love this store!'"
melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca
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