Ludlow fringe festival taking to castle for finale
Ludlow's fringe festival will take over the town's castle for the first time this weekend when the three-week arts extravaganza reaches its climax.
Saturday and Sunday will see two big nights at Ludlow Castle, with thousands expected to pour into the town.
It will be a big moment for the festival, which is filling the void left when the main Ludlow Arts Festival was cancelled.
The Ludlow Fringe Festival – previously a loosely linked set of events put on in the town to accompany the main festival in Ludlow Castle – has seen art, theatre, comedy, music and street performances at venues across the town since the middle of June.
But this year the fringe will fill the castle itself, with a day of folk music on Saturday and a vintage-themed Electro Swing Circus on Sunday, with organisers hoping for more than 1,000 people on each day.
Fringe director Anita Bigsby said: "We'll see how it goes, it's new territory for both of us – Ludlow Fringe and Ludlow Castle – but they are very keen for us to work with them.
"It won't be like it was before, but we'll do it differently and work it out together. We want it to grow."
She said so far this year the expanded fringe festival had done a good job of taking its place as the town's summer arts festival.
She said: "It has been a resounding success, with sell-out performances and visitor, audience and spectator numbers well up in the thousands.
"Audience feedback has been really positive and congratulatory with most of the town wishing to see it continue its success and to grow in future years.
"We have had more people coming up to us saying they really appreciate what we are doing and understanding what we are doing.
"I think they used to just think we were part of the main festival.
"Now they are realising what we put into the town, supporting local businesses and local creative talent, which I don't think has always been the case in the past."
But, she said, the festival still needed crucial support on the final weekend.
"It's costing us a lot of money and we're hoping it's an investment," she said.
Tickets are available at www.ludlowfringe.co.uk, from the Ludlow Assembly Rooms box office on (01584) 878141, or on the door.
