Fungus Festival 2026
Full Program
Sunday, October 11, 2026
11am-4pm, at the Battery NYC
11am-4pm, at the Battery NYC
Whitney Bauck and
Ariel Lauren Wilson
Community Science Dig: Using eDNA to Reveal Hidden Fungi
1:00PM (Presentation Tent)
Description: Fungi are living around us all the time, even when we can't see them. But sampling for fungal DNA can help make those invisible lives visible. In this workshop, we'll start with a short presentation about the importance of fungal biodiversity and how we use environmental DNA to learn about it. Then, we'll head out into the field for a hands-on segment in which participants will help with digging, soil sampling, and recording metadata as part of an ongoing community science project to understand the fungi living out of sight in NYC's urban soils.
About: MYCOmmunity Mapping Project is a community science effort to identify soil fungi hidden in plain sight. It was co-founded by Whitney Bauck and Ariel Lauren Wilson, who are currently pursuing this work as Environmental Research Fellows at Green-Wood Cemetery. By day, Lauren is the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at New York Restoration Project, and Whitney is an environmental journalist working on a book about the race to conserve fungi before it's too late.
Victoria Bayevskiy
The Secret Lives of Fungi
2:30 PM (Wagner Room)
Description: An exploration of fungal relationships and the ways fungi engage with our ecosystems — symbiotically, parasitically, and mutually. A deep dive on the unique systems that exist beneath our feet and out of sight.
About: Victoria Bayevskiy is a naturalist, amateur mycologist, and member of NYMS. With a background in psychology and ecology, she is passionate about urban green space access and helping more people connect with nature. When not mushroom hunting, she works for NYC Parks restoring our urban forests and natural areas. Victoria is particularly interested in mycorrhizal connections and the ecological relationships fungi foster.
Bethany Beech
12:30 PM Fungal Dyes
Workshop
About Bethany Beech: Bethany is an amateur mycologist and the founder of the Vermont Mycological Society. She is interested in a wide range of mushroom-related topics, from taxonomy to fungal dyeing.
Andrew Cannon
Rusts, Powdery Mildews, and Smuts
3:00PM (Presentation Tent)
Description: Rust fungi (Pucciniales) are highly specialized plant pathogens known for their remarkable life cycles and profound effects on agriculture, forestry, and natural ecosystems. The rusts have particularly complicated lifestyles involving a sequence of up to five distinct spore types that often require a jump between two unrelated host plants.
About Andrew Cannon: Andrew is an artist and amateur mycologist based in New York City. A member of the New York Mycological Society since 2015, he serves as the Society’s archivist. Since 2023, he has focused on researching the history and diversity of plant pathogenic fungi in North America, particularly rusts, smuts, and mildews.
Aubrey Carter
Mushrooms of the Appalachian Trail
1:30PM (Presentation Tent)
Description: Learn about the fungi on the Appalachian Trail. I’m currently thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail and documenting the fungi I find along the way.
About Aubrey Carter: Aubrey has worked at several different ecological institutions in and around the NYC area, including the Central Park Conservancy, the Westchester Land Trust, the Stamford Land Conservation Trust, and Sleepy Cat Farm. Aubrey publishes a newsletter every Monday, entitled 'Mushroom Monday', which features photos and a profile of a different mushroom he has found throughout his travels. All archived posts can be read on mushroom-monday.com. He leads public mushroom walks through his newsletter, private mushroom walks with Catskill Fungi, and is an active member in both the New York Mycological Society and Mid-Hudson Mycological Association. He lives in Putnam County and hopes to start his own farm soon.
Maren Fossi
Where are the Fairy Pins? - Looking for Phaeocalicium
12:00PM (Presentation Tent)
Description: The genus Phaeocalicium comprises about 20 currently known species of minute ascomycetes generally appearing as black pins, stalks, or clubs on the wood of trees like sumac, birch, red oak, black walnut, and poplar, or on certain commonly encountered polypores in the case of P. polyporaeum. For how widespread many of these different species' hosts are, with many abundantly present in our area, very few observations of these species are reported. Maybe they aren't here? Or maybe we need to look harder?
About Maren Fossi: Maren Fossi is an amateur mycologist and member of the New York Mycological Society, currently serving as the club's lecture organizer and as an occasional walk leader. She is broadly interested in fungal ecology, evolution, and cultivation, and her fungal white whale at present is a prime flush of Lactarius indigo
Michael Jones
John Cage "Child of Tree”
2:30PM (Presentation Tent)
Description:This year we will celebrate one of our club founders, John Cage, with a performance of his 1975 improvisatory composition "Child of Tree” performed by percussionist Michael Jones presented simultaneously with readings from Cage’s 1970 performance text “Mureau.”
About Michael Jones : Michael Jones (he/they) is a percussionist and conductor based in upstate New York. He has been described by Fanfare Magazine as a “phenomenal player” whose “restraint… carries the music through with otherworldly sounds.” His work focuses on championing new pieces of the 21st century as well as works from the 20th century avant-garde. He is particularly interested in touch, resonance, and the enchanted currents of sounding objects. He has performed at the LA Philharmonic’s Noon-to-Midnight Festival, The Ojai Music Festival, The Other Minds Festival, Monday Evening Concerts, The Dog Star Orchestra Festival, and the Hartford New Music Festival. He’s appeared in the past as a member of the William Winant Percussion Group and red fish blue fish. He regularly performs as member and co-founder of the flute/percussion duo Offscreen, with Alexander Ishov, and the piano/percussion project Duo Refracta, with Shaoai Ashley Zhang. He currently teaches at Bard College.
Alexandra Kirlan
Fungus Farming in the Animal Kingdom
12:30PM (Presentation Tent)
Description: Farming fungi isn't something unique to humans - many different animals do it too! Termites, molluscs, ants, and more have all been shown to engage in fungiculture, highlighting an interesting symbiosis between the animal and fungi kingdoms that is helping reshape our understanding of fungal cultivation, ecological stewardship, and even synthetic plastic waste management. In this talk, I will discuss the history and growing body of scientific literature behind these fascinating relations, with the goal of inviting the audience to broaden their notions of fungiculture and what humans can learn about stewarding our relationship with fungi and animals.
About Alexandra Kirlan: I am an amateur mycologist particularly interested in mycorrhizal fungi & fungiculture; I help run a home lab with my partner, Maren Fossi, focused on fungal genetic sequencing, fungiculture, and other fungi/bio-related projects. Outside of fungi, my background is in physics and mathematics, though I am a lover of all things scientific. I hope to inspire people to experiment with and push the bounds of what we know about fungi, especially in the space of fungal cultivation and citizen science.
Roman Kosoy
To Eat or not to Eat: Edible and Poisonous and Meh Mushrooms Around Us
All Day Info Table
Description: To educate about the diversity and characteristics of the mushrooms that we can, should not, or MUST NOT consume. The key aspect is to enforce the rule that THERE ARE NO RULES when it comes to determining the edibility of a mushroom, and that there are no good shortcuts when deciding whether a given mushroom can be consumed. Importantly, it is important to realize that the edibility of some mushrooms is not always an absolute quality and ability to consume a number of mushrooms depends on an individual, and cannot be predicted.
About Romany Kosoy: Roman is a computational immunologist endeavoring to understand what keeps us alive. As a mycophile he endeavors to understand what does not kill us.
Jeffrey Lependorf
John Cage "Child of Tree”
2:30PM (Presentation Tent)
Description: This year we will celebrate one of our club founders, John Cage, with a performance of his 1975 improvisatory composition "Child of Tree” performed by percussionist Michael Jones presented simultaneously with readings from Cage’s 1970 performance text “Mureau.”
About Jeffrey Lependorf: Jeffrey Lependorf, a performer, composer, and visual artist, serves as Executive Director of the John Cage Trust. He also directs the Art Omi: Music international musicians residency, a program that he created. He received his undergraduate degree from Oberlin Conservatory, and his masters and doctorate degrees from Columbia University. National Arts Strategies named him a national arts leader, providing him a fellowship to their prestigious Chief Executives Program, and has received numerous grants, awards and honors.
Christian Liriano
Poster-Hidden Connections: Insects and Mycorrhizal Networks in Urban Greenspaces
All day info table
Description: Urban greenspaces contain overlooked ecological connections both above and below ground. This project explores two dimensions of these hidden fungal networks: the diversity of insects associated with macrofungi in urban parks and the potential importance of beneficial fungal–plant relationships for healthier, more resilient urban greenspaces. Macrofungi form symbiotic relationships with plants and other organisms, while their fruiting bodies provide food, shelter, and breeding habitat for diverse insects. Together, these relationships highlight fungi as important connectors of biodiversity and ecosystem function and encourage us to rethink urban greenspaces from a fungi-centered perspective.
About Christian Liriano: Christian Liriano’s research interests span aquatic and terrestrial ecology, with a particular focus on the habitat ecology and natural history of understudied organisms in northeastern North America. His work explores how species and ecological communities are distributed across habitats and how environmental conditions, spatial structure, and species interactions shape patterns of biodiversity. He is especially interested in understudied groups such as spiders and bryophytes and in using natural history, community ecology, network ecology, and theoretical ecology to better understand ecological patterns across urban environments. As a student at CUNY, he continues to develop these research interests in preparation for pursuing a Ph.D.
Blacki Migliozzi
The Hunt for Glowing Life: From NYC to the Depths of the Jungle
12:30PM (Wagner Classroom)
Description: For years, Blacki has documented his encounters with glowing organisms, from walks with the New York Mycological Society to the depths of the Peruvian Amazon. Through engaging anecdotes and stunning photography, we will explore the phenomenon of fluorescence and bioluminescence in fungi and beyond. He will share what inspired his obsession with this hidden world. Aside from offering you a glimpse into the science behind glowing fungi, this talk aims to inspire you to seek out these extraordinary organisms for yourself.
About Blacki Migliozzi: Blacki Migliozzi is a amateur biologist who's learned to do science hands-on through work with citizen science organizations like the New York Mycological Society and DIY maker spaces like Biotech Without Borders and Genspace. In the past, he has been a member of several gold medal-winning teams competing in the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition. More recently, he has spent several field seasons doing genomics fieldwork in the jungles of Central and South America.
L Danny Parrott
The peoples medicine
2:00PM (Wagner Room)
Description: Effectively communicating the benefits of herbal consumption to medical professionals and patients
About: I am an adaptogenic herb specialist bridging the gap between modern healthcare and herbal & holistic wellness practices. We conduct herbal case studies to collect and share the impacts of herbal protocols in everyday life for those dealing with chronic health issues. I consult with physicians and patients.
Matthew Rozanoff
Metropolis Mycotour: Edible, Rare, and Must-Know Fungi of New York
11:30AM (Presentation Tent)
About Matthew Rozanoff: Matthew Rozanoff strives to make the wonderful knowledge of mycology accessible to all. He grew up foraging and hiking, even fire-grilling oyster mushrooms and chicken of the woods while trekking the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail. His passion for fungi initially exploded through genetic and microscopic study, eventually expanding into work with two American sequenceing labs, participation in dozens of festivals and invited forays, and the writing of academic articles. He is the co-founder of Life Art Fungi, a family duo focused on mushroom education, mycotourism, and illustration.
Photo credit @Rick LashLuke Sarrantonio
Fungi First Aid
1:30PM (Wagner Classroom)
About: Luke Sarrantonio grew up in Rosendale, New York, spending much of his childhood exploring the local landscape and ecological features, but it wasn’t until attending university at SUNY ESF (College of Environmental Science and Forestry) that he truly discovered Fungi. He has had a dynamic career in Mycology (15+ years), developing ecology and cultivation-based educational programs, organizing an annual mushroom and arts festival (For the Love of Fungi), community projects, and a line of functional mushroom products (under the name Mycophilic). His major goal is to be an accessible resource for people who want to learn more about this fascinating group of life. His most recent projects include an outdoor mushroom farm and teaching space with his partner Kaya, at their farm in Accord, NY (Eat Flowers Farm), and a community project called Eat More Mushrooms. He also offers mentorships and private classes. More at Mycophilic.net
Tomo Sone
Movement Workshop to Move Like Mycelium - Grounding Movement for Beginners
Workshop at 12pm and 2pm (Labyrinth)
Description: Slow down and ground yourself in this beginner-friendly somatic journey. Inspired by the quiet wisdom of mushrooms, this movement workshop focuses on slow movement, deep connection, and inner peace. First, cultivate Mycelial Grounding by rooting your breath and body to the earth. Next, experience Spore Awakening through gentle, fluid stretches that release tension. Then, explore Canopy Connection with rhythmic, mindful movement to harmonize your energy. Finally, return Spores to Soil for a deeply restful cooldown.
No experience is needed. Wear comfortable clothes, leave the daily rush behind, and tune into your body’s natural rhythm."
About Tomo Sone: Tomo Sone is a choreographer who merges artistic vision with scientific insights to craft innovative dance narratives. Through her recent research, she has refined her expertise in experimental choreography, collaborating with AR and AI technology and creating internationally recognized dance films and solo works. The study delves into digital technology’s relationship with the human body, seeking new avenues for empathy, referring to the natural network, including mycelium.
In addition to her choreographic work, she has led movement workshops to align training with creative goals and is committed to using dance as a tool for social change and nurturing emerging talents.
Roberta Trentin
Funga Paper Collage Workshop
Mushroom Paper Collage 2:30PM
Description: In this hands-on workshop, participants will create collages using handmade paper made from mushrooms, exploring its unique textures, colors, and organic qualities. We will work with botanical elements and a curated assortment of paper cutouts to build layered compositions inspired by the natural world. Participants are also invited to bring their own paper cutouts, images, or small paper elements to incorporate into their work, making each collage more personal. No previous experience is necessary. All materials will be provided, and participants will leave with a finished collage created on and with mushroom paper.
About Roberta Trentin: Born in Italy, Roberta Trentin moved to the United States in 2008. She is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice is grounded in collaboration with materials, living systems, and unknown outcomes. Her work explores overlooked stories of fungi, microorganisms, and plants within the more-than-human world. Trentin received her Master’s Degree in Agricultural Science and Technology from the University of Florence, Italy, before moving to New York City to study photography in the General Studies program at the International Center of Photography. She later earned her MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from the NOMAD program at the University of Hartford. She teaches workshops in papermaking with mushrooms and sculpting with mycelium, and facilitates participatory biosonification installations using biodata from mushrooms and plants. Her work has been featured in Abundance of Life, the Bio Art Seoul group exhibition at the Gwacheon National Science Museum in Seoul, South Korea; on the an/aesthetics, a group exhibition at Rosekill Farm in Rosendale, New York; MYCRO Mag, an NYU student-run interdisciplinary print and online publication; and as part of Mary Mattingly’s River Lab public art project in its multiple iterations.
Elan Trybuch
Myxomycetes: Slime-tastic
Fun-guys of the Microbial World!
2:00 PM Presentation Tent and all day Art stand
Description: New York City myxomycete identification workshop, demystifying the common slime molds and learning how to key them out.
About Elan Trybuch: Elan is the current acting Secretary of the New York Mycological Society and a Myxomycete specialist, helping to identify species and document the biodiversity of Fungi and Myxomycetes in NYC. He currently lives in Redhook, Brooklyn with his partner and son. He works at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as an Integration Engineering Manager.
Cecilia Vicuña
Poetry and the mushroom way of communication
11:00 AM Presentation Tent
Description: The story of how María Sabina came into my life in art and poetry.
About: Cecilia Vicuña is a poet, artist, activist and filmmaker whose work addresses pressing concerns of the modern world, including ecological destruction, human rights, and cultural homogenization. Born and raised in Santiago de Chile, she has been in exile since the early 1970s, after the military coup against the president Salvador Allende. In London, she was a co-founder of Artists for Democracy in l974. She coined the term “Arte Precario” in the mid-1960s in Chile, as a new independent and non-colonized category for her precarious works composed of debris, structures that disappear in the landscape, which include her quipus (knot in Quechua), envisioned as poems in space. Vicuña has re-invented the ancient Pre-Columbian quipu system of non-writing with knots through ritual acts that weave the urban landscape, rivers and oceans, as well as people, to re-construct a sense of unity and awareness of interconnectivity. These works bridge art and poetry as a way of “hearing an ancient silence waiting to be heard.” Her poetry and Palabrarmas (word-weapons) stem from a deep enquiry into the roots of language. Her early work as a poet in the 60’s was simultaneously celebrated by avant-garde poetry magazines as El Corno Emplumado, Mexico City (l961–1968), and censored and/or suppressed for many decades in Chile and Latin America.
Zihao Wang
Lichen Walk
Walk 11:45 AM
Description: Lichens (lichenized fungi) are the most common group of fungi, ubiquitous in our environment. But due to their small sizes, they are often overlooked by even mycologists. During this casual walk in the park, learn where to find these amazing organisms and how to use loupes and cellphone cameras to observe and photograph common lichens in the urban setting. Introductory lichen ecology and the use of iNaturalist will also be discussed.
About: Zihao Wang is a forester with NYC Parks and a well-rounded naturalist. He is a member of New York Mycological Society, the chair of fieldtrip committee of the Torrey Botanical Society, and a member of the NYC Butterfly Club. He specializes in the identification of vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, beetles, and phytoplanktons. To this date, he has documented 111 species of lichens in the city. An avid iNaturalist power user, he also observed the most species within NYC (5077 taxa on iNaturalist).
Bill Wurtzel
Mushroom Art by Bill Wurtzel
12:00 PM Wagner Classroom
Description: Video presentation, and book signing by Bill Wurtzel.
About Bill Wurtrzel: Award-winning food artist. 7 food art books. Latest is "FUN"GI - Mushroom Art like Nothing On Earth. - Mushroom art exhibits in U.S. and Sweden. Mushroom art workshops.
Gene Yetter
Loose in the NYBG Fungarium
1:00 PM Wagner Classroom
Description: An overview of Gene Yetter’s work photographing and helping digitize the New York Botanical Garden’s extensive collection of fungi. A summary of how to use the NYBG’s C.V. Starr Virtual Herbarium to access the collection online, as well as a sampling of the digital fungarium’s significant collectors and specimens (ranging from the 1800s to today).
About: Gene Yetter has been a member of the NYMS since 1980 (with a brief break when he was restoring a vintage car). He is the society’s former president and a car enthusiast. His passion is photographing beautiful fungal specimens in the field, as well as the ones he has been helping digitize for the NYBG for over a decade. During this time he has photographed thousands of specimens and digitized many historical records, as part of NYBG’s ongoing effort to make them accessible to the public.
New York Mycological Society
ID Table
All Day Info Table
Description: Learn about how to identify fungi through macro features. We will display local and regional mushrooms at the tables for you to learn. Please bring your own mushrooms and we will help you to identify them.
About : The New York Mycological Society believes that passionate amateurs are important contributors to mycology and conservation. We’re a volunteer-run non-profit organization dedicated to spreading knowledge, love and appreciation of fungi and to educate people on the important role of fungi in our ecosystems.
New York Mycological Society
Fall Fungi Mushroom Walk
9:00 AM
Please meet at the Governor's Island at 9:15AM by taking the boat at 9:00AM from Manhattan.
Description: Learn about the common fall mushrooms of Governor’s Island on this walk which will be guided by an expert from the New York Mycological Society, NYC’s mushroom club.
About the New York Mycological Society: The New York Mycological Society is the organizer of Fungus Festival 2026. We believe that passionate amateurs are important contributors to mycology and conservation. We’re a volunteer-run non-profit organization dedicated to spreading knowledge, love and appreciation of fungi and to educate people on the important role of fungi in our ecosystems.
New York Mycological Society
Microscopy
All Day Info Table
Description: Come hang with NYMS and zoom into nature at 40-1000X magnification with microscopes. Roam on rhizomes and other samples, talk about microbes and mycelium with community scientists.
About : The New York Mycological Society believes that passionate amateurs are important contributors to mycology and conservation. We’re a volunteer-run non-profit organization dedicated to spreading knowledge, love and appreciation of fungi and to educate people on the important role of fungi in our ecosystems.
BioBus
Hands On Science
All day workshops
Description: Climb aboard our BioBus Mobile Lab where Community Scientists will show you how to use one of our high-powered microscopes to explore samples such as bugs, dirt, water, flowers, and other organic matter from your neighborhood! You can even look at your own skin, hair, and clothing up close with a microscope. Stop by anytime for a quick 5-minute exploration or stay for 30 minutes (or even the entire event!) for a variety of science experiences.
About BioBus: BioBus helps K-12 and college students in New York City discover, explore, and pursue science. We focus on students excluded from the scientific community due to factors such as race, gender, economic status, and physical access. Through this work, we envision a world where all people have the opportunity to reach their full scientific potential.
Mushrooms 4 Clean Water
A civic science–led research platform exploring mycoremediation and mycofiltration
All day info table
About: Mushrooms for Clean Water is a civic science–led research platform exploring mycoremediation and mycofiltration as nature-based approaches to environmental restoration. Through the development and testing of innovative prototypes, the project investigates how fungi and mycelium can help address contaminated soil, water, and other environmental conditions. By building a network of community, research, and cross-sector partnerships, Mushrooms for Clean Water seeks to restore and strengthen urban ecosystems through sustainable, accessible solutions that harness the natural capacity of mycelium to break down pollutants, improve soil health, and support healthier ecological systems.
Farm Tour at The Battery
Farm tour
12:00 and 2:00PM (Farm)
Description: Learn about the farm at The Battery
About: The Battery Urban Farm is an educational farm where New York City’s students, residents, and visitors experience sustainable farming, enjoy tasting organic fresh foods, and learn environmental stewardship. The farm was developed in 2011 by The Battery Conservancy in response to a request for a vegetable garden by eight students from neighboring Millennium High School. From those eight students, we now engage over 5000 students from over 100 schools and community volunteers who annually grow thousands of pounds of vegetables, fruits, herbs, grains, and flowers.
Big Reuse
All day info table
Description: Learn about Big Reuse
About: Big Reuse supports and builds community-based initiatives that minimize waste and cultivate a greener and more resilient future amid accelerating climate change. Our programs bring NYC residents together to care for their own green infrastructure and empower communities to embrace composting, tree care, and reuse at a grassroots level, scalable citywide and beyond. The Big Reuse Center takes in tens of thousands of donated items that are resold and kept in use by thousands of new owners, keeping them out of the landfill. We help New Yorkers care for their street trees and sustain city-wide composting programs that collect food scraps and turn them into compost used to enrich soil across NYC and strengthen our communities against climate change.
BPCA naturalists
All day info table
Description: Join BPCA naturalists to explore what's under a rotting log! Visit the Discovery Zone to get up close and personal with our local decomposers and see transformation at work!
Natural Areas Conservancy
Shannon Jordy
All Day Info Table
Description: Learn how to engage with NYC's natural areas through stewardship, advocacy, and other volunteer opportunities
About: "The Natural Areas Conservancy champions urban natural areas in New York City and across the nation through innovative research, partnerships, and advocacy.
We increase the health and resilience of urban forests and wetlands, catalyze connections between people and nature, and strengthen the workforce.
We’re the leading organization in NYC for natural areas, and we convene a 26-city network of experts to preserve, improve, and expand these spaces nationally."
Phoenix Botanicals
Irina Adam
Art all day & 2:30 PM Presentation (at the tent)
Description: Natural perfumes that include mushroom and fungal- related notes. I love the smell of mushrooms, they can add mystery, earthiness and gourmand flair to perfumes. Some mushrooms, when dried, can smell like a mesemerizing bouquet of flowers, fruits and spices- such as the muse for our perfume Black Trumpet Chthonic!
About: I love mushrooms, nature education and community. As a long time mushroom forager, who started out learning with Gary Lincoff at the NYBG, it's an honor to be part of NYMS events and share my mushroom-y perfumes and a bit of my knowledge thru a workshop. I'm an artist, natural perfumer and herbalist, and educator, and worked long term in ethnobotany research at NYBG.
Mystic Embers Ceramics
Wild Marks: using Mother Nature as texture in clay
Art all day & 2:00 PM Presentation (at the tent)
Description: I use a lot of shell, coral, rocks as texture in my work and it manipulates not only the surface of clay but how glaze will look. I will bring examples of the textures I use for people to see and touch as well as its use on a pinch pot bowl so they can feel the texture on a functional piece and see how it moves the glaze differently than a smooth clay surface.
About: I am a ceramic artist based in Queens with a love and focus on making ceramic mushroom luminaries, mugs and jewelry. I use a lot of fungi-inspired glazes as well for my other pieces.
Cam's Urban Farm
Fresh Mushrooms
Mushroom Stand all day & 3:00 PM Presentation (at the tent)
Description: Fresh mushrooms, including lion's mane, blue oyster, pink oyster, pioppino, golden enoki, Italian oyster and black pearl oysters
I'm a mushroom farmer from Queens, and I'm passionate about localizing food systems and showing people how mushrooms can revolutionize modern agriculture. My company, Cam's Urban Farm, gives New Yorkers the chance to eat gourmet mushrooms grown right here in NYC, fostering a deeper connection between people and their food. Through our partner grocery stores and restaurants, as well as five farmers markets across the city, we've introduced thousands of New Yorkers to the world of culinary mushrooms. I participated in the NYMS Fungus Festival last year, and sharing my mushrooms with the abundance of like-minded people that came was an incredible experience. I'm interested in participating again so I can have more amazing conversations with fellow mushroom-lovers and provide them with the most local gourmet mushrooms they've had!
Catskill Fungi
John Michelotti
Mushroom Stand & 12 PM Presentation (at the tent)
Description: Mushroom Health Extracts, Books, Catskill Fungi T-shirts, FUNDIS T-shirts, Pocket Guide, Medicinal Pamphlet, Hand lens, Stickers.
About: Improving the community and the environment through educational workshops and mushroom health extracts since 2014. Catskill Fungi produces high integrity, triple-extracted health tinctures from mushrooms that are wild-crafted or grown near our family farm in the Catskill Mountains. We enjoy sharing our love of mushrooms on our guided mushroom walks, medicinal and cultivation workshops, and our fungi retreats. Catskill Fungi has a foundation of permaculture principles. This means the core of our business is about helping people and improving the planet through our work with mushrooms. We practice sustainable harvesting, leave-no-trace principles, and compassion for the environment. We aim to empower people to grow edible mushrooms as a sustainable source of fresh food, to heal themselves through utilizing health properties of fungi, and to explore the historical uses and present day innovations of these essential fungi.
Cove Mountain Mycology
Jennifer Robinson
Mushroom Stand & 1 PM Presentation (at the tent)
About: I run Cove Mountain Mycology out of a lab we built in our cabin the Poconos, where, when not doing hair in Brooklyn, I spend a lot of time in the woods and make small‑batch functional mushroom extracts from the species I forage and grow.
Brooke Aerin Illustration
Prints, posters, zines
Art Stand & 11:30 AM Presentation (at the tent)
About: Brooke Aerin is an illustrator and botanical artist inspired by the plant life of the Northeast. Her work explores local edible plants and mushrooms through prints, cards, zines, and other paper goods that celebrate the beauty and abundance of the natural world.
Life Art Fungi
Raaka Chocolate
Functional Bars
Food Stand & 12:45 PM Presentation (at the tent)
About: Raaka Chocolate is a Brooklyn-based bean-to-bar chocolate company making unroasted, single-origin, transparently traded chocolate, all dairy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and organic-and kosher-certified.
This NYMS Fungus Festival, we're highlighting Functional Chocolates and our Cocoa Magic: Mushroom Blend Hot Chocolate, the perfect mushroom-based bite and sip to start or end your day! Swing by our stall for a chocolate treat, and sip while you learn about cacao and Witches' Broom, a fungus that affects cacao plants!
Maya Han
Myco Microcinema
3:00 PM Wagner Classroom
Description: NYMS is excited to present this bold and visionary international program of short experimental fungal-themed films by leading myco-media artists and filmmakers David Fenster, Maya Han, Ben Kinsley + Riitta Ikonen, Jennie E. Park, Jess Reisch, and Beth Walker. Don't miss this one hour screening at the beautiful, new Wagner classroom overlooking the water!
About: Maya Han is an award-winning artist, writer, and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. Her work highlights hidden women's, BIPOC, and my(e)cological histories. Her works have been presented internationally at over 80 art spaces and film festivals including recently at the Museum of the Moving Image, NYC and Porto Femme Festival Internacional de Cinema, Portugal. Since 2022, in her mission to bring fresh, new perspectives to the intersections of art, science, and nature, she has been the Cultural Programmer at NYMS including founding and producing the Myco Book Club in 2022 and Myco Film Festival in 2023 and inaugurating a dynamic mix of myco-collaborations with NYC cultural institutions including the New York Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Pioneer Works, Public Records, Staten Island Museum, Alice Austen House, Climate Week NYC, and many more.Grace Jung
Slow Water, 2026
Art and artist talk 2:00PM
Description: Slow Water explores the movement and growth logic of mycelium as it digests its way through a suspended knitted network. The knit follows the form of energy lines distilled and funneled to a single point. The resulting morphology resembles a gravity well and meditates on the moment of digestion when all things condense into one. There are infinite possibilities at the resulting point of precipitation.
The cellulose/lignin based yarn is dyed with pigments extracted from the coral fungus Ramaria flava, foraged in Queens, NY. The yarn is then soaked in a PDA solution and used as substrate for the Blue Oyster spawn, provided by Cam’s Urban Farm. The piece experiments with alternative methods of sculpting mycelium three dimensionally, encouraging aerial mycelium growth in the negative space.
Mushroom Costume and
Fashion Procession
Create Mushroom-Themed Costumes
All day (Costume Tent) 3:30 Procession
Description: This year we are celebrating with flair. Bring or create a mushroom costume and join us for a procession around the festival at 3:30PM
Matylda's Food
Mushroom Pierogies and more
Food Stand
Menu:
Mushrooms Soup
Borscht with Mushroom Dumplings (uszka)
Krokiety with mushrooms and cheese
Krokiety with mushrooms and sauerkraut
Pierogi with sauerkraut and mushrooms
Pierogi with potatoes and mushrooms
Pierogi with mushrooms
About Matylda's Food: Delicious, home-made pierogies including mushroom pierogies
4 Wall Farm
Savory and Dessert Mushroom Dishes
Food Stand
Menu:
Trumpet mushroom ceviche (V, GF)
Lion's Mane Gyros (V, GF option)
Herbed Mushroom & Cheese
Stuffed Sourdough Waffles
Shrooms in Snuggies
Playful Lion Fizzies
Mushroom & Chocolate Elixir
Various mushroom-based desserts:
Lion's Mane Peach Balsamic Tart
Roast Shiitake Double Fudge Brownies
About: We are a small, family-operated, Hudson Valley mushroom farm. In addition to growing mushrooms our Test Kitchen creates innovative and delicious mushroom farm-to-table cuisine. The NYMS annual festival is one of our favorite events, and we love to bring new food adventures to the festival
Loni Makes
Mushroom Desserts and Art
Food Stand
Menu:
- candied shiitake miso chocolate chip (gluten free, vegan)
- lionsmane shortbread with @4wallfarm Roaring Lion Tea (gluten free, vegan)
- oyster Mushroom caramel Thumbprints (gluten free, vegan)
- chili crisp brownies with @madamesusansauces chili crisp (gluten free, vegan)
About: Loni Diep is a trained Pastry Artist who worked in Chicago for 5 years as a Pastry Chef as well as a bookbinder and artist. She fell in love with mushrooms by attending by chance a mushroom banquet held by the Illinois Mycology Association. Now based in NYC and a member of NYMS, she is excited to continually explore on forays, create more myco-recipes and share tasty experiences with mycophile friends. Due to personal gluten and sugar sensitivities and lactose intolerance, Loni is proud to offer delicious mushroom-based pastries and snacks that are vegan, gluten free, and lower sugar. To add to the whimsical experience, she also makes mushroom art alongside the mushroom desserts, to create a beautiful balance of art and food.
Hao Bao Now
Chinese Mushroom Dishes
Food Stand
Menu:
vegan mushroom bok choy bao
vegan and GF cold noodles with black mushrooms
cucumber black mushrooms salad
About: Hi, I am a Chinese food vendor upstate NY, serving some authentic food like bao and cold noodles. China has a long history with mushrooms in our diet as one of the best umami flavor resources. This is reflected in my food. I have a popular product which is vegan mushroom & bok choy bao, and also a vegan and GF sweet potato cold noodles with black mushrooms, carrot and spinach. I think the food I offer is a good representation of mushrooms in Chinese food culture.
Madame Susan
Sauces and Mixed Mushroom Fried Rice
Food Stand
Menu:
Magic Miso Sauce / Umami Sauce
Chili Crisp
Sichuan Dipping Sauce
Vegan Vegetable Japchae w/ Mushrooms
About:We are a minority woman owned, and husband and wife duo, creating Asian-flavor inspired sauces. All of our products are made with all natural ingredients, with no emulsifiers or additives. Our products are vegan and we have gluten free options as well.
We were also at Fungus Fest 2025!
