A free arts and culture festival near Greater Manchester could be set to rival the likes of the Edinburgh Fringe in terms of its rich and varied offering. Lancashire Fringe Festival will take over Preston for 15 consecutive nights from September 25 featuring free performances, comedy sets, and theatre shows at venues including churches, bars, pubs and even a bus station. Described as Preston’s ‘biggest performance festival’, the fringe event first began in 2019 and was held for a second time in 2022.
Organisers behind the festival say it intends to bring shows to a ‘city which is struggling to engage with arts and culture’. READ MORE: 'I frankly hate having my picture taken': Noel Gallagher 'honoured' as he is added to National Portrait Gallery “The festival’s main aim is to entertain the people of Preston,” Festival creator Garry Cook says. “The shows will be some of the most unforgettable, brilliant and funny performances.
I want people who don’t usually come and see live performances to come to the shows – if that’s you, come and join in.” The line-up for this year’s festival will include more than 20 shows and performances - including Louise Orwin’s five-star rated TikTok-inspired show Famehungry (October 9), Naomi Wood’s acrobatic spoken word show Gobbess (September 25) and Cheekykita’s word-of-mouth hit clowning show An Octopus, the Universe ’n’ Stuff (September 25). Cheekykita will perform comedy show An Octopus, the Universe ’n�.