The 3rd annual Northeast Washington Mushroom Festival is a family-friendly event celebrating and exploring the world of fungi! This festival features a mushroom foray hunt and contests, mushroom and fungi identification table, presentations by mycologists, demonstrations, children's activities, live music, art and costume contests and lots of vendors and culinary mushrooms for sale!
Pre-registration is now open for general admission (free) vending ($44), mushroom foray ($15) and contests (free)! Please pre-register for free general admission and the art and costume contests so that we can best manage the festival.
VENDING/TRADING AVAILABLE FROM 10AM – 7PM:
General vending is $44 for 12’x12’ space. Culinary mushrooms, pre-packaged food and drinks for sale are accepted but not hot or made-to-order items. Electricity is not provided. Vendors are responsible for meeting all required licenses for their products. Space is limited to 40 vendors. Please pack in and pack out all your personal property and keep products and space family friendly. Vendors arrive between 7:30 – 9:00am for load-in and setup. Vehicles cannot drive on field and must be parked in the parking area. Vending is open from 10:00am – 7:00pm. Vendors may leave the event after 5pm.
CONTEST ENTRY FEES:
The Mushroom Foray Contest entry fees are both $15 per adult and $10 per child if you register online before 5/2/25 or $20 per adult and $15 per child at the time of the event on 5/3/25. There are no fees to enter the Myco Art and Myco Costume Contests. All contest participants need to enter at the registration booth.
CONTESTS:
PLEASE NOTE: Anyone (whether in a contest or not) can bring previously harvested mushrooms from near or afar to put on the identification table but they are not added into the contest. We want to see and discuss as many types of fungi as possible. Thank you for making this possible.
There are 3 competitions for the Mushroom Foray Contest: Largest Mushroom Variety, Largest Amount of Culinary Mushrooms and Largest Morel Mushroom. Details and prizes will be announced at a later date
Mushroom Art Contest is open to all ages and is open for judging from 3:00 – 3:30pm.
No entry fee. Bring your mushroom art, drawing, photograph, painting, project, etc. Our judges will choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.
Mushroom Costume Contest is open to all ages and is open for judging from 3:00 – 3:30pm.
No entry fee. Dress up as your favorite fungi or mushroom themed character and our judges will choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.
SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES ON 5/3/2025:
7:30am - 9:00am – Vendor Load-in
9:00am - 9:30am - Check-in and Register for Foray Contest
9:45am - Mushroom Foray Contest Briefing & Map Hand-out
10:00am – Mushroom Foray Hunting Begins and Vending and Festival opens to the public
10:30am – 1:30pm – Mycology Presentations, Demonstrations and Children’s Activities (TBA)
Mushroom Foray contestants must return before 2pm to submit mushrooms into contest
2:00 – 3:30pm - Mushroom Identification Table and Discussion
3:00 – 3:30pm – Myco Art and Myco Costume Judging by stage
4:00pm - Contest and Raffle Winners Announced at stage
4:30 – 5:30pm – Mycology Presentation
5:30 – 7:00pm – Live Music and Open Mic
At 9:00am, registration opens for the foray and contests. At 9:45am, there will be a contest debriefing and review of guidelines for the Mushroom Foray contestants. Maps for the foray hunt will be issued at this time. There are options of walking to places around town or driving to further locations. Mycologists Jason P. Smith and Jim Groth will also be leading foray groups if you choose to join either of them. Contestants are encouraged to carpool and can self-assemble this at this time.
At 10:00am, contest participants leave for the mushroom foray hunt and return to the park by 2:00pm to enter their mushrooms into the contest; no exceptions. Any foul play like bringing in mushrooms not picked that day will result in immediate disqualification.
From 10:30am through 1:30pm, there will be three 45-minute presentations from speakers on mushroom topics such as medicinal uses, wild crafting, growing & cultivating and much more. Speakers and workshop facilitators to be announced at a later time.
From 2:00 – 3:30pm, the Mushroom ID Table will be open for public display and discussion with mycologists.
At 4:00pm, all contest and raffle winners will be announced at the stage.
From 4:30pm – 5:30pm, there will be one last speaker on mycology.
From 5:30pm until the end of the event at 7:00pm, there will be live music and an open mic inviting the community to share your talents with us on stage. Dancing, vending and trading are open until 7:00pm. All participants need to have their items and trash picked up and packed up by 8:00pm.
Please bring your own chairs/blankets, water bottles, umbrellas, and mushrooms. Vendors, please consider a donation for the raffle to raise funds for future events. Drugs and alcohol prohibited.
This event is hosted by the Inland Northwest Permaculture Guild (INPG) and the Northeast Washington Permaculture Guild (NEWPG) in partnership with FungiPermastead, Fungilion, and the Children of Earth Coalition (COEC), BZ Farms, and Boundary Conditions. For questions, email Kelly at childrenofearth@outlook.com.
More information is available at www.InlandNorthwestPermaculture.com
For more information and photos of past Mushroom Festivals hosted by INPG, visit
https://www.sasquatchfamilyreunion.com/past-mushroom-festivals.html#/
