April 23, 2024 – If you live in the Monterey Bay area, you’re likely aware there is fungus among us. From the mushroom farms of Half Moon Bay to the array of wild species that can be found in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Big Sur from fall through spring, we’re a region that celebrates our fungal bounty on restaurant menus, mycological society events and foraging festivals.
Now, there’s a new two-day event to showcase mushrooms in all their glory: the first annual Santa Cruz Mountain Mushroom Festival (SCMMF) will be held May 4-5 at Roaring Camp in Felton. The event will bring together some of the nation’s preeminent researchers, mycologists, and practitioners of alternative medicine for lectures well as cooking demos by regional chefs, food, drink, and craft vendors, live music, mushroom-centric art and installations, a Kid’s Zone, nature walks, hands-on workshops, and more.
The festival’s organizer is Far West Fungi (FWF), one of the nation’s premier growers and retailers of mushrooms. Founded in 1982 by the Garrone family, FWF has supplied cultivated and wild mushrooms to some of Northern California’s most prestigious restaurants, including Carmel’s Chez Noir, and Quince, Saison, and Boulevard in San Francisco. While the flagship store is in the San Francisco Ferry Building, the company also has a shop in downtown Santa Cruz and sells at farmers markets.
While Santa Cruz has hosted its Fungus Fair for 50 years, the SCMMF will be the first full-fledged, multi-day mycological event of its kind in the region.
“It was time,” says Erin Raser, FWF’s director of operations and advocacy. “There are mushroom festivals popping up all over the US, and its high time California joined in, but we wanted a mega-event to really showcase and honor fungus, with all the added activities and entertainment. California is also a mecca for mycologists, herbalists and researchers who study fungi, so it makes sense to bring everyone together.”
Kiera Garrone, co-organizer and Raser’s sister-in-law, adds: “The festival’s tagline is, ‘Building Community through Fungi.’ Our goal is to make mushrooms accessible to a wider audience, and foster curiosity, education, sustainability, and community. Nurturing our symbiotic relationship with fungi helps our ecosystem to flourish and creates a deeper connection to nature.”
Even if you’re not among the mycologically obsessed, the festival is a fun, family-friendly event that also supports the community. “Getting kids out in nature and away from a screen, enjoying great food, art and live music; it promises to be a wonderful weekend,” says Garrone.
Among the esteemed mycology experts attending the festival, Raser says she’s particularly excited about presenter Christopher Hobbs—a renowned herbalist, mycologist, acupuncturist, botanist, and clinician. “Medicinal mushrooms truly have so much to offer to the community. Like medicinal plants, each species offers its own attributes, such as supporting energy and focus, the immune and nervous systems, and brain and memory function. In North America, we’re only just beginning to understand the medicinal properties of mushrooms,” says Hobbs.
Other presenters include cultivators, foragers, scientists, and medical practitioners. Several members of the Garrone family will also be participating in panel discussions related to cultivation and running a mushroom business. There will also be a “Networking Nook” where attendees can talk mushrooms with experts while sipping on Fox Tale Fermentation’s Candy Cap Mushroom Beer. “Think Happy Hour at a conference, but cooler,” says Garrone.
If you’re looking to get your hands dirty, there will be workshops on plant-based fabric dying, painting with mushroom pigment, fermenting with fungi, a log cultivation demo, spore prints, and more. Microbiologist/mushroom and fermentation expert Gordon Walker will also be leading a nature walk, but don’t expect to find any mushrooms.
“The guided walk is really our answer to the fact that we’re hosting a mushroom festival at a time of year where we don’t expect them to be popping,” says Garrone. “That doesn’t change the fact that we’re surrounded by the amazing Big Trees of Roaring Camp, so we have expert guides who are also familiar with the native foliage and other wild edibles.”
Wild edibles of the fungal variety will be featured in all the weekend’s cooking demos, which include tastes of each dish. Highlights will include chef/owner Brad Briske of Soquel’s HOME, chef/author Chad Hyatt (The Mushroom Hunter’s Kitchen) and former Santa Cruz resident Maria Finn of Flora & Fungi Adventures, who will also be doing a signing for her new book, Forage.Gather.Feast: 100+ Recipes from West Coast Forests, Shores, and Urban Spaces.
A multitude of food vendors will also be in attendance, serving up fungus-forward dishes, including regional favorites like Julia’s Vegetarian Restaurant, Honey B Market/Funky Bean Tempeh (featured in Edible’s current issue), Santa Cruz Fungi, Far West Fungi (don’t miss their medicinal mushroom candy and market stands), and more. Beer, wine, and kombucha will be available from Cruz Kombucha, Quinta Cruz/Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, Laughing Monk Brewery and Beauregard Vineyard.
Other vendors include ceramicists, artists, and nurseries, as well as informational booths from the Homeless Garden Project, Santa Cruz Fungus Federation, and Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. For the kids, the Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast will be hosting a Kid Zone with face painting, art activities, an archery range, and bounce house. Local musicians The Apricots, Alison Steele, and more will also be playing throughout the festival.
“Mushrooms and fungi are all around us,” says Raser. “They play an important role in the ecosystem, and edible fungi are only a small part of that. The reality is mushrooms have so much more to offer in the realms of culinary, medicinal, and environmental sustainability.”
For tickets and information, visit scmmfest.com. Tickets include access to all events, children 12 and under are free. Proceeds from the event will go to benefit the Santa Cruz Fungus Federation, Mycological Society of San Francisco, Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast, Lily’s Lighthouse, and Boulder Creek Recreation and Park District.
About the author
Laurel Miller is a food, spirits and travel writer and the former editor of Edible Aspen. She grew up on a California ranch and has been writing about regenerative agriculture for over 20 years. When she’s not tethered to her laptop, Miller enjoys farmers markets and any trip that requires a passport. She’ll take a Mission burrito over a Michelin star, any day.
