Coinciding with Oamaru on Fire and the Steampunk New Zealand Festival, the event was established to draw more people to Oamaru for the long weekend and provide a broader range of entertainment.
The popularity of Oamaru on Fire and the Steampunk New Zealand Festival was growing year on year, but Fringe Festival co-ordinator Helen Jansen said there was a gap in entertainment at night after Oamaru on Fire.
''Last year, we had people saying 'what do we do now?' when [Oamaru on Fire] finished,'' she said.
''That's how [Fringe Festival] blew up and we were also looking at a way of broadening the Steampunk weekend to a wider market - I appreciate that Steampunk isn't everybody's cup of tea - not everybody understands it, so there needs to be some other events.''
Residents and visitors, young and old, would be ''spoilt for choice'' over the weekend, she said, as the town was expected to come alive with musicians, dancers, writers and a festering pirate crew for the first Fringe Festival.
Ms Jansen said the inaugural event had great potential.
''If we can work collaboratively across venues and providers, then I can see that next year it should be another really good reason to come and explore Oamaru,'' she said.
Dance duo Silhouette - ex-Oamaruvian Lei'ataua Limuloa and his wife Kate - who were the runners-up in the 2013 New Zealand's Got Talent television show, will perform their adagio dance.
Other acts, including musicians Mark and Emma Wilson and Captain Festus McBoyle, with his sidekick Sir William Crust and their luscious lady, the Infectious Ida Crumpet, were also expected to be popular, she said.
''New Zealand's ultimate rotten pirate entertainer, McBoyle and his crew will share tales of the sea, their witty humour and catchy tunes,'' she said.
In its fifth year, Oamaru's Steampunk New Zealand festival was now known internationally.
With the addition of the annual Oamaru on Fire in 2012, and now the Fringe Festival, Ms Jansen said Oamaru had become nationally recognised as a ''quirky destination''.
