Whitney Channing busks to promote her show Songs From My Suitcase. Photo / Nimmy Santhosh
Whangārei was awash with colour over the weekend as the city's first Fringe Festival came to life.
The Hatea Loop walkway was interspersed with live music, giant bubbles, a mud kitchen and people airing their lockdown laundry on Sunday for the Hatea Me Hearties Buskers Festival.
Whangārei Fringe Festival co-founder and ONEONESIX venue manager Georgia May-Russ said turnouts were exceeding organisers' expectations.
"It was such a whopper of a launch weekend. We have been overwhelmed with the response from Whangārei and how people got out to support us," she said.
May-Russ said ticket sales "have just pumped online".
"They've tripled so obviously the word is getting around that the Fringe Festival is happening."
She said that, although many people went to the Town Basin and Hatea Loop specifically for the fringe entertainment, a lot of people stumbled upon it, piquing their interest.
"They hadn't heard about it but were really interested and took lots of programmes to share with their friends and family – we ended up running out," said May-Russ.
Lockdown Laundry had pulled at the heart strings; a typist captures people's lockdown memories on her typewriter, then hangs them up on a clothesline.
"That was so heart-warming. Reading some of the stories, I was blown away. There was one by a 9-year-old boy, which really pulled at the heart-strings."
The Butter Factory had been filled to capacity Saturday night with band Rocks 'N' Flowers and Love Bug Fringe Fiesta also had great crowds turn up, said May-Russ.
Pop-up comedy venue Fringe After Dark had attracted sell-out shows.
"There's definitely been quite a buzz down at Fringe After Dark and it's been really cool to see new faces at the comedy," said May-Russ.
The Dice Show saw a range of comedians given a random topic from members of the audience, throw a giant dice, then hilariously and often awkwardly ad-lib about the topic for the number of minutes the dice landed on.
This was followed by A Young Man Dressed as a Gorilla Dressed as an Old Man Sits on a Rocking Chair for Fifty-Six Minutes Then Leaves... which turned out to be exactly that. However, during the 56 minutes, the audience interacted breaking into gorilla and monkey-related song, starting chants, staging interventions and even placing bubble wrap under the rocking chair. While the gorilla didn't respond, by the end of the show, the audience had bonded.
Part of the fun of a Fringe Festival is going to shows you might not normally consider, said festival co-founder and theatre-maker Laurel Devenie.
"Many of the shows are free or koha, so it's the perfect time to take a chance. Whangārei is a hotbed of creativity, and there are some weird and wonderful shows happening over the next 17 days."
Over the two-week festival, the city's nooks and crannies will be filled with 88 arts events including comedy, theatre, visual art, music and poetry, two-thirds of which are staged by local creatives.
Festival co-founder and visual artist Hayley Clark says the buzz in the community about the festival seems to be spreading.
"On our preview evening, we had a procession of people cruising the streets between art-gallery openings, and a sold-out crowd at the comedy preview night at Fringe After Dark. There's a sense of excitement about the festival, and, combined with the fact that it's finally spring, it really feels like something is growing here."
With theatre shows starting this week, organisers are expecting the theatre scene to be a hit like the comedy so far.
Five new art exhibitions have opened throughout the city, and there's a wide range of children's shows to entertain young ones.
The Whangārei Fringe Festival runs for two weeks until October 26. Tickets and programmes can be obtained from ONEONESIX, 116A Bank St, The HUB, Town Basin or online at: www.whangareifringe.co.nz. Keep up-to-date via Facebook and Instagram: @whangareifringe