Ashland Fringe is coming to the Rogue Valley, bringing in creatives in a wide array of artistic styles from many genres of music to puppetry and improvisational comedy. 

Making its debut of sorts this year, the event was born out of the Oregon Fringe Festival, which was hosted and primarily organized through Southern Oregon University. 

“It’s a platform for anyone and everyone, and for art of all kinds,” said Mary Snelgrove, festival director for Ashland Fringe. 

The festival is free to attend and is slotted to take place Friday through Sunday, May 2- 4, and will be held at numerous stages and spots across Lithia Park in Ashland as well as venues across the city. 

For the list of scheduled performances, visit ashlandfringe.org/2025-festival-schedule.

Lithia Park’s Butler Bandshell, the Japanese Garden, the park front lawn and more will be used to showcase a wide range of art performances. 

Other venues that will lend space include the Trapdoor Bar + Grill, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Courtyard Stage and more. 

The intention behind Ashland Fringe is giving opportunities for nontraditional, niche and other kinds of artists and performers to showcase their creativity. 

The Fringe Festival movement began in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1940s. Since then, festivals across the world have popped up over the years with the same vision of highlighting fringe art, including Ashland. 

“The Fringe movement is so cool; it puts a new form of creativity on the radar that you might not have seen before,” Snelgrove said. “There’s a lot of art that’s otherwise neglected.” 

Some of the audience-capturing performers and artists include Elbow Room Taiko with Japanese drum renditions, “Boosh: A Comedy About Loneliness” with Nicole Medema as a mime bringing humor and touching on isolation, Boise State University’s Girl Jazz Society celebrating and bringing women’s representation into the genre, musician Canvas Rose bringing their spacey ballads to the Ashland scene and many more. 

“Audiences can participate in anything from music theatre to puppetry and clowning and interactive elements like a musical instrument petting zoo,” Snelgrove said.

Medford-based music nonprofit Rockafairy is teaming up with Ashland Fringe as well, offering professional sound equipment and other help for the festival. 

“We’ve been supported by Rockafairy. … Mike Sandoval (Rockafairy vice president) is a key connection and I can’t speak more highly of him … he has community at heart and is focused on creating an accessible art scene and our shared goal is super powerful and super productive,” Snelgrove said. 

Ashland Fringe is arriving for its debut after previously being organized by SOU as the Oregon Fringe Festival, which was held for 11 years. 

“I started with Oregon Fringe Festival as a producer — last year I was the operations coordinator — and when the opportunity came about to branch out and take the festival on, myself and my team were really stoked to bring in the community,” Snelgrove said. “It’s great to tie in with the university, and now we’re working on the downtown hub and local businesses and partners, young and old.”

For Snelgrove and other organizers, community building, accessibility and bringing fringe art to new eyes and ears are all major motivations. 

“Community has been the biggest driving factor; it’s one of the reasons we centralized the festival so artists can connect and present with the audience and other artists,” she said. “We’re also really emphasizing accessibility and making sure everyone feels welcome in our spaces and there aren’t any obstacles.” 

“We’ve got artists coming in locally and from out of town, and there are folks coming all the way from Georgia,” Snelgrove added. 

Organizers hope the local community embraces the fun and are exposed to new art forms and styles. 

“We hope to draw some crowds,” Snelgrove said. “There’s no expectation, no huge goal, and so far the festival has been well received by the community.” 

All in all, there will be many performances to see to intrigue art lovers and potentially expose them to new styles. 

“We have this shared goal and mission with Ashland Fringe; our organization has attracted a group of incredibly powerful artists and this festival couldn’t happen without them and the dedication to their craft,” Snelgrove said. 

For more information on Ashland Fringe, visit ashlandfringe.org.

Reach reporter James Sloan at james.sloan@rv-times.com.