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Kelowna Fringe Festival cancelled due to pandemic

The inaugural Fringe Festival took place last September, featuring several local and international artists
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The Kelowna Fringe Festival is the latest large event in the city to fall to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Event organizers announced the cancellation of the September-scheduled event today but said it will make a return in 2021.

“Our amazing local community has really embraced and supported Kelowna Fringe,” said Kirsteen McCulloch, executive director of the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, which runs the festival. “We were excited to build on 2019’s success this year, but, of course, we needed to consider the challenges posed by COVID-19 in the current, and future, environment. With that in mind, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the festival for this year and shift our focus to hosting a mind-blowing Fringe in September 2021.We’re so grateful for the community’s support, and we know we’ll be able to count on you to make 2021 the best Fringe yet.”

If you’re wondering how you can continue to support the arts during the COVID-19 pandemic, McCulloch has some advice:

“I encourage everyone to please do what they can to support artists, creators and the creative community as much as possible during this difficult time - from leaving a positive comment on social media to tuning in to a live stream, every little bit helps and will be so greatly appreciated.”

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READ MORE: Downtown Kelowna Association cancels block party


@michaelrdrguez
michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com

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