Fringe ready to launch

Live performances, comedy acts and pop-up bars are set to take over the CBD early next year for the much-anticipated Bunbury Fringe Festival, with the launch tomorrow.

Event co-ordinator Jo O’Dea said she was thrilled for the launch of the festival.

“We’ve got 79 activities happening within the CBD. Of those, 35 are unique activities over nine days at 22 venues and on top of that we have over 30 shows happening at the harbour,” Ms O’Dea said.

“The fringe hub this year is the powerboat club. We’ve confirmed we are going to have a fringe ferry, so from 5pm-8pm on Fridays and Saturdays from the little Pat Usher jetty out the front of BREC, the ferry will run backwards and forwards to the powerboat club.”

Bunbury artist Giuseppe Rugnetta said he was thrilled to present his graffiti-style art in his home town, which would be complete for the launch.

Ms O’Dea said she was introducing a new concept called Fringe Friends.

“This year we are doing something new called Fringe Friends, so if a person signs up as a friend for a $25 fee they get discounts to shows and they will get discounts at different shops in town as well,” she said.

Bunbury Fringe Festival will officially kick off on January 31 next year and run until February 8.