When told that all of the theatres were already booked, the performers scrambled about and found some buildings that were available on the edge of the official site.

Without benefit of the festival's organizational structure or their box office system, the eight companies put on their shows anyway. When a journalist described them as being on the fringe of the festival, the name stuck.

The Fringe Festival concept came to Edmonton, Alberta Canada in 1983. The central premise was that anyone could apply. The festival did not jury, adjudicate or censor the performers or their performances.

Instead the applications were selected on a first come, first served basis or on an arbitrary lottery based system.

Selected applicants were not paid by the festival. In fact, the performers paid for all production costs associated with their shows plus an entry fee to the festival.

Festival organizers set a maximum ticket price in order to attract as wide an audience as possible and gave the artists 100% of their shows ticket sales, minus taxes and advance ticket service fees.

While the artists have complete freedom and responsibility to present whatever they wish, the risk as a Fringe artist is that if you don't get an audience, you won't cover your costs or make any money.

So while you will find some bold risk taking theatre, you also find shows that stick to tried and true formulas guaranteed to generate an audience.

The ever-growing world-wide following of artists and audiences who regularly attend Fringe festivals are living proof of the original Fringe Festival concept.