Ventnor Fringe Festival

There’s nothing better than a summer festival of music, arts, comedy and performance, soaked up with like-minded people, but I can feel a bit overwhelmed at huge events like Glastonbury or Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The FOMO (fear of missing out) can be crippling and the drudge exhausting. So I jumped at the chance of a weekend at Ventnor Fringe, on my favourite little island, the Isle of Wight.

The usually sleepy seaside resort of Ventnor is buzzing during its Fringe festival. I’d been warned to book ahead to see any of the big names, for accommodation, or if I wanted to eat out at any of the fancy restaurants in town. Just like Edinburgh, you don’t buy a festival ticket, you buy tickets for the individual shows. But unlike Edinburgh, there’s a suntrap sandy bay, lush green downs to explore and no big crowds to deal with.

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The Ventnor microclimate

The Victorian gentry once flocked to Ventnor for its mild microclimate: the temperature here is on average 5 degrees warmer than in the rest of the UK. Today, the town’s terraced Victorian houses almost topple into the strikingly blue sea and the Botanic Garden grows plants and trees I’m more used to seeing in the Mediterranean (or even Australia). Saying that, 2023 was probably the first year in the history of the Fringe that the weather didn’t deliver on its subtropical promise (though in hindsight, the abundant rainfall was pretty tropical).

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How it started

Founded in 2010 by three Ventnor students (Jack Whitewood, Mhairi Macaulay and Thea Welsford), the Fringe gives a platform to local, and increasingly, national talent. It’s grown into a key Isle of Wight summer event, and these days it's used as a warm up to sharpen acts for Edinburgh Festival Fringe, or for bands to warm up for International tours. BRIT and Grammy Award Winning Wet Leg name check the festival from time to time as they grew up around here and performed at the Fringe back in the day.

In 2014, a pop up box office for the Fringe opened, and now it’s a permanent year-round social enterprise – an arts venue, coffee shop, bar, record shop and coworking space. I popped in from time to time during my stay, for top tips about shows to see that day.

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How it’s going

Despite it being a tiny Fringe festival compared to the likes of Edinburgh, there are still more than one hundred shows across ten days. My favourite venue was the Big Top on a stunning cliff top location just west of the Botanic Garden – an easy walk from the main hub at Ventnor Park, where I whiled away whole days soaking up free events (acrobatics, theatre, painting classes) and beer from the parkside bar. The harbour and businesses in town get involved with plenty of pop ups, too.  

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The highlights

Music-wise, the festival opening night at the Big top, with Flamingods, a four-piece alternative rock band from London and Bahrain Flamingods, was tough to follow (though if I had the energy I would have stayed for the silent disco after party). The next day was EarsPeeled, an all-day show organised by the same-name local music promoter (and headlined by Coach Party). But honestly, the absolute stand out gig of the week was BC Camplight, lead by American-turned-Mancunian Brian Christinzio.

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For comedy, I’m sad to say that I wasn’t quick enough off the mark to nab some of the hottest tickets like Richard Herring, Ahir Shah and Drunk Women Solving Crime (next year I’ve promised myself to be more organised), but it was absolute joy to catch an hour of Heidi Regan, followed by the incredible Rob Auton headlining. Both did work in progress shows for Edinburgh – so we saw it here first.

The atmosphere of this little island festival was delightful. Friendly punters, performers and volunteers mill about while children climb trees, learn circus tricks and generally have a ball. The summer holidays don’t get much more lovely than this.