After Edinburgh, the second-largest fringe festival in the world is that of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. The Adelaide Fringe evolved in the early 1970s as a reaction against the establishment and the then 'mainstream' Adelaide Festival of Arts. Today, although two events are now inextricably linked, the Fringe Festival has overtaken the main Festival of Arts in terms of attendance. The Adelaide Fringe is renowned for its innovation, spontaneity and carnival atmosphere, and is widely regarded as one of the best events of its kind in the world.
The largest fringe festival in North America is the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. Founded in 1982 and 1988 respectively, Edmonton and Winnipeg are the premiere stops on the Canadian fringe tour, a semi-official series of fringe theatre festivals that permit performers to travel east to west, from June to September. Canada now has more Fringe Festivals than any other country in the world and each Canadian Fringe festival strongly adheres to the philosophy that a "Fringe Festival" be unjuried, return 100% of box office proceeds back to the participating artists and remain affordable and accessible to all.
In 1998, the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals trademarked the words "Fringe" and "Fringe Festivals" for all of North America. Although the CAFF claims it was "to protect the artists and the integrity of the festivals," this approach, as well as festival registration fees, drew criticism from some artists and led to the creation of the infringement Festival in Montreal in 2004, a new movement that now has festivals running in five cities.
Fringe festivals are becoming more common, with many major cities throughout the world now conducting their own Fringe Festivals of sorts.