The Tower District in Fresno held its opening night for the 2025 Rogue Festival on Friday, Feb. 28.
Attendees can look forward to art shows, poetry readings, theater performances, comedy and more, all within the next four days.
On Friday, there were a total of 24 shows of all different categories.
The festivities are spread throughout different venues in the Tower District. Most of the shows take place between approximately 5:30-11 p.m. and sell tickets near the entrances by the venue managers.
The $6 Rogue wristbands are required for show entry and can be purchased at any of the venues, on the Rogue website or at the Rogue store at The Lotus Room parking lot.
On top of the Rogue Festival being an outlet for artists to express their creativity, 100% of the proceeds curated at the events go to the artists. Most of the shows range from $10-15 to get in, and the Tower District is expecting a good turnout this year.
“Our anticipation is that we are going to grow even bigger than we were last year and our hope is to keep growing and to start getting some of the younger groups in,” said Wendy Berry, president of the Rogue Board of Directors. “I pretty much work Rogue year-round, [and] we have a huge team of dedicated people who put all of our blood, sweat and tears into planning this. We are volunteers, we don’t get paid for any of this, but we treat this as our second job.”
Kathleen Whiting is a loyal Rogue Festival attendee and returned, once again, on the opening night.
“I’ve been coming to Rogue for probably over 20 years,” said Whiting. “Rogue is actually a very big deal. I’ve gone to the fringe festival in San Francisco and it’s sad, so [Rogue is], I think, one of the greatest cultural events that Fresno has going on because of all the different artists that you can see.”
Whiting attended a music show by the local band, “Bongo Fury and The Calypso Cowboy” at Spectrum Art Gallery. Jeffrey Bowman, a member of the band, spoke about his passion for the steel drum, his instrument of choice.
“I’ve been playing the pan, it’s been attached to me for like 50 years, so I wanted to do a show,” Bowman said. “It’s just kind of paying homage to the instrument, [because] it has meant a great deal [to me]. It’s opened a lot of doors for me over the years.”
Down the street from Bowman’s performance at Spectrum Art Gallery is Veni Vidi Vici, where Blake Jones, George Rotalo and a mystery guest sang for their crowd. Jones’s wife, Lauri Jones, discussed Rogue Festival and her own performance that night.
“I’m in the belly dancing group that’s going to be dancing tonight,” Lauri said. “Tonight, [Blake Jones] and his friends are singing together. I’ve been with him almost 40 years, and he always has a guitar in his hand.”
The love of the arts is what seems to draw people into the Rogue Festival. Lori Williams gave insight into what she values in the festival.
“It’s wonderful, the performing arts are so fantastic, you can get a little bit of everything that you like about performing arts,” Williams said. “[I love] the community, the people, the kindness [and] the Tower.”
The Rogue Festival events will go through March 8, with showings being held in Dianna’s Studio of Dance, Spectrum Art Gallery, Veni Vidi Vici, ViSTA Theater and The Lotus Room. The events are welcome to all.
