Overview
The theme of this year's Melbourne Fringe Festival is 'Eat Your Art Out', which sees most of the 470-plus events explore the relationship between food and art.
You'll be invited to join interactive dinners, cook at pop-up barbecues and drop by the weekly Fringe Flavours Night Market.
Every Wednesday evening from September 18–October 16, Queen Vic Market will play host to food stalls, bars, local artisan shops and heaps of Fringe performances.
You can tuck into Polich dumplings from Pierogi, Pierogi, handmade pasta from La Trafila, a huge selection of tacos from the Le Mano, Korean corn rice from Oksusu and fluffy souffles from the Tokyoki Souffle team.
There'll also be three separate bars running each night. One will serve up a selection of berry-infused cocktails, another will shake up nothing but margaritas, and the third will be run by the Fringe Night Market itself — serving beer, wine, spiced rum and gin and tonics.
When it comes to entertainment, you're absolutely spoilt for choice. Tash York will perform their wine-filled cabaret show, Throw Catch Collective will run a food-themed juggling act, Bettie Bombshell and Ruby Sklippers will perform family-friendly versions of their burlesque shows, and Boyd Kelly will be DJing most nights — bringing soul and funk beats to the Fringe Flavours Night Market.
You can, of course, look up who is performing in advance and go along for their free show at the market, but we love to be surprised by Melbourne Fringe Festival events — simply rocking up and hoping for the best. That's kind of the of the point of the Fringe.
Discover a new artist at the spring night market series, and if you really love them, pay for tickets to their main Fringe show.
The Fringe Flavours Night Market is running every Wednesday from 5-10pm from September 18–October 16. For more details, head to the venue's website.