The Mount Pisgah Arboretum (MPA) Mushroom Festival is one the largest mushroom festivals on the west coast. And, is definitely the largest annual educational event of the year for the Cascade Mycological Society (CMS). CMS along with Lane Community College (LCC), have been integral to this event since its inception in 1981. For more information about how the festival comes together and all of the activities that CMS is responsible for, please read About the MPA Mushroom Festival.
Here you will find specific details of CMS sponsored events for the 2024 MPA Mushroom Festival on October 27th. Advanced tickets are required for entry. Purchase tickets at the Mount Pisgah Arboretum Mushroom Festival website.
Christian Schwarz
- When: Friday, October 25th at 7pm
- Where: Unitarian Universalist Church, 1685 13th Ave, Eugene, OR
We are so happy to be welcoming back Christian Schwarz. His last presentation to CMS was in 2018 about the North American Mycoflora Project (now known as the Fungal Diversity Survey) which was just getting started.
Christian, who is co-author with Noah Siegel of the very popular Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast, will have copies of their latest book Mushrooms of Cascadia: A Comprehensive Guide to Fungi of the PNW available for sale.
The 2024 Guest Expert Identifiers
It appears we will have plenty of rain in time for the CMS member field trips to collect mushrooms for the display in the days prior to the festival. If you want to collect mushrooms on your own, please do. You should follow the instructions on this page, and drop off your mushrooms on Saturday, October 28th, at the Arboretum (White Oak Pavilion) between 9am and 3pm.
CMS will be welcoming back Steve Trudell, author of Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest to help identify mushrooms. On Sunday Steve will be at the Expert ID table which will be back inside the White Oak Pavilion (next to the large mushroom display). If you have mushrooms you would like identified bring them to the festival. Who knows, the mushroom you bring in could possibly be a mushroom that is new to the show, or perhaps Best in Show!
Noah Siegel, co-author of Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast and Mushrooms of Cascadia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fungi of the PNW will be joining Steve on Saturday for identification and on Sunday at the Expert ID table. CMS members who volunteer to help setup the mushroom display on Saturday will be able to witness “the human mushroom identification machine” in action. It takes a lot of people to accomplish identification and setup of the mushroom show display. But having Steve there for identification always helps us to “step it up” as far as the number of species that get identified and placed on the table. We are glad to have him back this year!
Talks on the Terrace
This years host/emcee for Talks on the Terrace will be ? And, here are the featured presenters.
10:45 to 11:30, Valerie Nguyen (Fungi for the People) – Cooking Demonstration and Tasting
12:00 to 12:45
1:15 to 2:00
2:30 to 3:15
3:45 to 4:30
- The CMS Mushroom display where you can learn about hundreds of local species!
- Edible and Poisonous Mushroom Tent, staffed by knowledgeable CMS members
- Live Music
- Hayrides are back!
- Talks on the Terrace is back!
- Guided Nature Walks by local naturalists
- Mushroom Vendors
- Local foods, arts, and crafts
- Cider pressing and the scarecrow contest
This, and all festivals going forward will require advanced tickets for entry. Purchase tickets at the
Festival Mycoblitz
The CMS Macrofungi of Lane County Oregon Project will be sponsoring an online mycoblitz from October 19th to the 28th to celebrate the festival.
