Return of Saskatoon Fringe Festival like 'buds of spring coming back'
Now that the Fringe Festival has kicked off, artists are thrilled to be back on the stage and the streets after more than a year of uncertainty and cancelled shows.
Gerald Williams is no stranger to Fringe Festivals around the country, but this is his first time in Saskatoon.
He said getting the call that the show will go on was exciting after all that went on in 2020.
“I decided not to go to any because there weren’t any. In 2019 I did nine Fringes in one summer,” Williams said.
Williams said he is excited to put on his show “How I Murdered my Mother.”
“According to the Fringe rumour network, this is the best Fringe in western Canada. I’m not saying the others are bad, the others are great, but I’ve heard Saskatoon is the best place to be for a Fringe,” Williams told CTV News.
Williams said the festival falling so close to provincial restrictions being lifted is a sign of good things to come.
“This wakes up society. It’s like the bird in the coal mine, but this is an indicator of a really good thing happening. This is like the buds of spring coming back to join us,” Williams said.
The festival looks a little different this year, but Williams said he still excited to finally get back up on stage and do what he does best.
Yulissa Campos, playwright of “The Newcomer,” said she had a mix of emotions leading up to festival.
“Grateful, happy, excited. As an artists, this was a really hard year,” Campos said.
Campos said there was still uncertainty in the months leading up to the event, but after everything people have been through during the pandemic, she thinks this is just the thing to start getting back to normal.
“I think people are so ready to be out. We have been in lockdown and just hiding at home. People are like ‘you know what? It’s time to get out,’” Campos said.
“I’m sure the people will enjoy this. It’s nice to be outside, it’s beautiful weather. Enjoy live theatre, I think it’s time. People are ready for this.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.