Fringe festivals began back in 1947 when the International Festival of Music and Drama was planned in a post-war Edinburgh, Scotland. Eight Edinburgh theatre companies were left out, but decided to book their own festival in smaller, alternative venues around the city. Without an official connection to the larger festival, the acts performing on the fringe could be more open, accessible, and experimental in nature. In the decades that followed, the idea of performing in alternative and found spaces spread and fringe festivals began popping up around the globe.
While Philadelphia has been hosting a large fringe festival (over 300 acts in 2025) each September, and our closer neighbors, York and Harrisburg, have been hosting their version of the festival for many years, Lancaster has never had its own…until now.
Lancaster Fringe Fest founders Caleb Corkery and Frith Rooney joined me on the program to talk about the inaugural Lancaster Fringe Festival, coming to Lancaster City on from May 21 through May 24, 2026. The festival will include forty performances across twenty venues plus street performances all around the city. Learn more about the festival at LancasterFringeFest.org or on Instagram and Facebook.
Our So Good Music feature is “Good Ghost Goodbye” by Lancaster ambient, electronic, and atmospheric pop artist Dean Thomas. Stay ’til the end of the episode for a quick chat and to hear the full track.
