[3] Held for 12 days in September, the festival features more than 500 performances -- more than a quarter of which are free of charge -- in established venues such as theatres, art galleries and cafes, as well as pop-up, site-specific shows in streets, parking lots, and tents throughout Rochester's East End and Neighborhood of the Arts districts near Downtown Rochester.
In its first year -- held September 19–23 -- the First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival featured more than 180 performances, and attracted more than 33,000 attendees during the course of its five-day run.
[9] The festival also added a new pop-up venue -- a Spiegeltent -- and curated shows within it, including "Cirque du Fringe" and a headphone-based nightly dance party called "Silent Disco."
"Fringe Street Beat," an all-styles dance competition, made its debut, and the Speigeltent featured the world premiere of "Miracle Cure."
It featured the U.S. premiere tour of France's immersive, inflatable street theatre company, Plasticens Volants at Parcel 5 for both "Friday & Saturday on the Fringe," drawing over 20,000 audience members to two performances of "Big Bang."
"Friday & Saturday on the Fringe" featured the North American premiere of the U.K.'s Massaoke at Parcel 5, while Kodak Hall hosted comedy headliner, Eddie Izzard.
[citation needed] The 2019 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival expanded again to 12 days (September 10–21), breaking records with more than 100,000 attendees and highest ticket sales ever.
Other headliners included comedian Mike Birbiglia and Peabody-nominated podcaster Nate DiMeo, who performed both his "Memory Palace Live" show as well as creating a specially commissioned, site-specific piece at Rochester's High Falls.