THE GARDEN OF UNEARTHLY DELIGHTS To Close Adelaide Fringe

The beating heart of Adelaide Fringe - The Garden of Unearthly Delights - closes the season on one of its most spectacular years yet.

The event, which attracted more visitors than ever across 32 days and nights, hosted more than 1600 ticketed performances, hundreds of sideshow acts and over 20 free events (including the Opening Night Party, The Donut Olympics and The Garden Sessions).

Across the 108 separate shows, over 50 received five-star reviews. The Garden celebrated 14 Weekly Fringe award winners across the season with three for best music and NEON taking out Bank SA's Pick of the Fringe in the first week.

Program highlights include new performance art by Leah Shelton - Bitch on Heat, receiving critical acclaim across the board; multiple sell out sessions of NEON (Circus Oz); Ivan Aristeguieta performances cementing him as a national treasure; the hilarious long-awaited return of Lano & Woodley; and Alex Rossi & Friends bringing in secret special guests night after night including Parliament Funkadelic and The Hot 8 Brass Band.

Top selling shows in The Garden included LIFE The Show, Best of The Edinburgh Fest, Judith Lucy, Djuki Mala and Tom Gleeson.

Each year The Garden partners with local and global charities to help raise money for very worthy causes. Fundraising efforts for 2019 saw over $270,000 raised for charities including the Hutt St. Centre with Dulcie The Bus, Headspace, Little Heroes, Salvation Army and Youth Together. Mix 102.3's Mark Sodastrom, broke the Guinness World Record for longest marathon on an amusement ride, contributing substantially (over $240,000) to fundraising efforts to support the Flinders Foundation's new Cancer Wellness Centre. The Centre was the final wish of the late Kerry Briggs, who died in 2016 after a five-year battle with breast cancer.

Karl Winda Telfer and Yellaka's Mullawirrayerta/ Dry Forest Place opened the hearts of Garden goers with their free performances throughout the season featuring dance, fire, ceremony and storytelling from Kaurna country. The Garden Sessions returned for its sixth year celebrating the talents of our local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians.

The Garden continued its effort to reduce waste by ensuring all its vendors use compostable food packaging, keeping a whopping 45 tonnes of compostable waste and 20 tonnes of co-mingled recyclables from landfill. Additionally hundreds of thousands of bottles and cans were recycled through South Australia's recycling scheme.

Michelle Buxton, Co-Director of The Garden of Unearthly Delights said:

Brilliant open-minded audiences who are interested to be part of the performing arts, together with extraordinarily talented artists and perfect weather have made 2019 our best season ever. It is very rewarding to see so many people getting together to share life, laughs and eye-opening, thought provoking, fun experiences.

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