The Sunshine Coast Society for the Hunting, Recognition and Observation of Mushrooms (SHROOM) is back with its ninth annual mushroom festival Oct. 13 to 15.
As always, the festival begins Friday night in the Roberts Creek Hall. This year’s featured speaker is Brian (Bushman) Lee and his presentation this year is Wilderness Survival 101.
In his presentation, Lee will give an overview of what it takes to survive on your own in the wilds of B.C. Lee is an avid outdoorsman. He has worked as a paramedic, a consultant on TV programs and movies, and a survival trainer. He will have with him many of the items he has made for survival and will demonstrate some of the skills necessary to survive in the bush.
On Saturday, Oct. 14, the main event takes place in the Madeira Park Community Hall. Tables in the hall will be loaded with hundreds of local species, some edible, many not, some with incredible medicinal properties. Knowledgeable members of SHROOM will be helping the public to safely identify each mushroom. There will also be demonstrations by local fabric artists of the beautiful natural dyes found in mushrooms. Bring your interesting fungal finds to the festival and experts will help you identify them.
Vendors will be selling local food items, books and crafts, many of them mushroom oriented. There will also be cooking demonstrations and tastings, using some of the choice local mushrooms that grow here on the Coast. Raffle tickets will be on sale for gift baskets and prizes, many of them getaway packages to local resorts including meals and/or accommodation.
Several local restaurants are sponsors of the festival, offering special mushroom-based menu items before, during and after the weekend. See which restaurants are participating at www.scshroom.org.
On Sunday, Oct. 15, the public is offered a guided foray in the local mountains, accompanied by local experts. After the foray, there will be a community hall gathering where SHROOM members will prepare and serve the bounty that was found on the foray. The foray is always very popular and is limited to a maximum of 30 individuals. Tickets are for sale online. The cost is $30 per person.
– Submitted by David Piasta
