Adelaide Fringe on the brink of one million ticket sales despite last weekend’s heatwave

Australia’s biggest arts festival is on track to surpass one million ticket sales for a second straight year – despite last weekend’s heatwave which saw sales drop dramatically.

Australia’s biggest arts festival is on track to surpass one million ticket sales for a second straight year.

As the Adelaide Fringe comes to a close this weekend, organisers say the festival’s total attendance has topped four million in 2024 with about 985,000 tickets sold.

They expect to reach the one million milestone on Sunday – the event’s final day.

Organisers say they would have reached the mark sooner had it not been for last weekend’s heatwave which saw ticket sales drop “dramatically”.

Sales were between eight and 10 per cent above last year before Adelaide’s hot spell caused that figure to fall to just 4.5 per cent.

Fringe director and chief executive Heather Croall said the incredible number of tickets sold demonstrated the state’s passion for the arts.

“As we enter these last few days, I am excited to see the enthusiasm continue to grow and encourage everyone to seize this final chance to experience a few more shows,” she said.

Pink Flamingo performers for Bigger Better campaign Carla Doyle - purple, Michelle Leung - red, Jerome Le Bon Choix & Phoebe Young - blue. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

This year’s Fringe hosted more than 1450 shows featuring more than 6000 independent artists across 500 SA venues.

Last month, the Fringe festival was accused of “inflating” attendance records to strengthen its case for more taxpayer funding after luring popular free events into its program.

Fringe organisers are seeking $4m extra annual taxpayer funding from the state government – taking it to $6.3m a year – to help yearly expenses of at least $12m.

Labor promised at the 2022 election $2m extra a year over four years to the Fringe, which last year sold more than 1 million tickets worth $23m at the box office.