2017 Mount Pisgah Arboretum Mushroom Festival
Another fun-filled event of family-friendly activities!
CMS co-sponsors this event put on by Mount Pisgah Arboretum with Lane Community College.
The 36th annual Mount Pisgah Arboretum Mushroom Festival was a big success, all due to the efforts of our awesome volunteers! This was another record-setting year, even for the number of volunteers – 65 – (not including the awesome LCC students)!
For those that came out on Saturday for setup, they had the special treat of being able to spend a little time with Freeman Rowe, the retired LCC Biology Professor who started this annual event we have all come to cherish. Freeman was delighted to see so many volunteers and so many mushrooms! He was also
very happy to see the tradition of LCC students carrying on the legacy that he had started. We did not recruit him to stay and join in on the ID effort, but we certainly could have. He was able to ID every mushroom that Bruce brought over for to him to see.
Stats for the 2017 Mushroom display:
Total # of species – 409! (Yes, we beat the 2013 record year of 404)
New species – 56 (tough to beat last year’s record of 69)
Species for Best in Show awards –
- Best in Show: Incense-cedar Polypore (Postia amara; Jesse Wilson)
- 1stPlace: Scaly-stalked Puffball (Battarrea phalloides; brought in by Susie Holmes; coll. by Harper Keeler)
- 2ndPlace: Goat’s Beard (Hericium abietis; Bobby Jones)
The new Scientific Illustrations was a big hit! – This year, LCC Professor and CMS Member Susie Holmes pulled together a fabulous interactive display titled “Scientific Illustrations” in the back corner of the White Oak Pavillion. She had a microscope on hand for viewing the finer details to be illustrated along with numerous examples of scientifically accurate artwork. Her students helped staff the table which allowed kids of all ages to participate. (photo by Peg Boulay)
Special thanks to our local CMS Identifiers and the following out-of-town Guest Identifiers
Looking high and low for all of the mushroom specimens takes effort, but nothing gets displayed until our Expert IDers work their magic. Mushroom identification is where it all comes together.
- Shannon Adams (PSMS/Seattle)
- Erin Blanchard (San Francisco)
- Mike Potts (Talent, near Ashland/S. Oregon)
- Noah Siegel (Co-author of Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast)
- Steve Trudell (Univ. of Washington/Seattle, Co-author of Mushrooms of the PNW)
And again, a Big Thank-You to our local squad of Expert IDers who helped immensely!
CMS Sponsored Displays and Activities
- CMS volunteers collect, identify and organize a stunning display of over 300 fungi species in all shapes, sizes, and colors.
- Bring mushrooms to be identified at our “Ask an Expert” booth, also located in the White Oak Pavilion.
- Be sure to visit our “Edible, Poisonous and Look-Alikes” display to learn about some mushroom species to enjoy and some others to avoid!
- Visit “Talks on the Terrace” to learn how to cook mushrooms during our mouth-watering culinary demonstrations, and get a chance to ask Steve Trudell, Mycologist and Author of Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest all of your questions about mushrooms (schedule shown right).
- Stop by the CMS Membership table and learn about everything CMS has to offer.
- And don’t forget to visit the CMS booth, where t-shirts, cookbooks, Mushroom Earrings and Christmas Ornaments, will be for sale.