Thank you!

It was wonderful to see so many of you at Fungus Festival on Sunday. Fungus Festival 2023 was a huge success, bringing together fungi and the many people and organizations who love them.

Fungi Festival was free and open to all. It only happened because over a 100 people gave so much of their time, passion and energy to it.

It will be impossible to mention and thank everyone who helped but I will try!

Fungus Festival was a nine month process, and several people were along for the full ride.

Larissa Hayden helped with social media, media outreach, general volunteering, the raffle and the afterparty and event planning expertise.

Lindsay Robbins assembled a team of artists and used their work to create the best Fungus Festival poster ever! The line at her booth never stopped. Thanks Lindsay!

Lee Stark created a wonderful map and schedule based on Lindsay’s poster and patiently dealt with our many last minute changes.

Phyllis Ma created a fabulous T-shirt that sold out immediately. We’ll be printing more – details soon! She also created a wonderful zine from her historical work into the history of the club and amateur mycology. Reach out to her if you’re interested in a copy.

Elan Trybuch helped with our website, social media and a great slime mold table.

Paul Sadowski helped with printing and microscopy and ideas along the way.

Bill May patiently tallied a hundred different invoices and made sure everyone got reimbursed immediately.

Several of our members had tables with awesome displays or activities: Andrew (again), Ellen, Blacki, Bethany, Kate, Roman, Potter, Spencer and Journei (with Bronx River Foodway).

Sol, Margot and Roberta gave wonderful and very popular art workshops.

Aubrey introduced our presenters with great flair and also gave a great lecture on lichens.

Katina, Bethany, Dawn and Max and Steven gave lectures on subjects they are researching and are passionate about.

Josh supplied us with candy cap ice cream!

And Gary Lincoff scholar Zuki created a beautiful poster on rusts.

Special shoutout to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders working with Claire Skodnek who created the beautiful navigational banners!

On the day, so many of you stepped up to volunteer – we thank you all!

Our awesome set-up and breakdown crew, several of whom got there just after dawn: Nigel, Julia, Andres, Charlotte, Diana, Finn, Hector, James, Julia, Kathleen, Roberta, Roman, Sarah, Sari-Rose, Joey, Jason, Candace and Susanna.

Our volunteer coordinator Joyce managed a large and enthusiastic group.

Our walk leaders Matthew, Ethan and Tom gamely navigated large groups of excited first-time forayers.

Our art shed and kids group Cassidy, Adrienne, Ted, Nancy, Kathleen, Alexa, Hailey and Sari-Rose helped artists of every age create outfits and created cute face paintings.

Our Cultivation Station people Anna, Eliah, Yolanda and Charlie supported the cultivation workshops in a very hands-on way

Our Foray support team Anna, Julia, Tiffany and Whitney wrangled large groups

Our ID table people Matthew, Ethan, Tom, Charlotte, Michael, Gwen, Max, Willem talked non-stop for several hours answering questions and talking about the specimens on the table.

Our wonderful merchandise sales team valiantly managed a throng of people clamoring for T-shirts and kept great records: Tom and Sue, Jonathan, Joey, Monika and Prathi. Thank you to Ethan for bringing and pricing the books and Laurie for a last-minute book donation.

Our microscopy table team Paul, Aki and Matthew introduced people to the world of spores and cystidia.

Our Mushroom as medicine support team Nigel, Adrienne, Julia and Roberta helped in a busy and very popular area that had great talks.

Lily documented the festival using many media including Polaroid and Super 8.

Our raffle team Larissa and Leigh helped raise 100s of dollars to support the festival

Our state mushroom table with Vicky and Mia got visitors interested in our State Mushroom initiative and unearthed valuable potential supporters.

Our general volunteers Anita, Kathleen, Miko, Riko and Jason helped wherever help was needed

Last but not least, our welcome tent helpers helped people navigate a large Festival, registered workshop participants and made everyone feel welcome: Julia, Nigel, Aubrey, Grace and Kathleen.

Fungus Festival was much bigger than us. We had so many wonderful partners who offered activities, workshops and resources that vastly expanded the scope of the festival and allowed everyone to appreciate fungi in completely new ways: The Bronx River Alliance, Kelly Street Garden, POC Psychedelic Collective and Liberation Flow, Robin Rollan/Black Yogis, Green-Wood Cemetery, FUNDIS, NYC Parks GreenThumb, the NYU Mycology Group, The Interbeing Project, CURB, Cornell Small Farms Community Mushroom Educators Program, Biotech Without Borders, Museo de Hongos, BioBus, Erik Nauman, Stuy Cove Park/Solar1 and MiOhMy Hydroponic Farms.

Thank you for the artists who presented their work for sale: Jules Zuckerberg, Riitta Ikonen, Lindsay Robbins and Robin Rolland of Black Yogis

We also want to thank our vendors: Immorel, Mushroom Queens, Smallhold

Thank you, just like last year, to James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center for their awesome vegan pizzas and gnocchi and Tania’s Kitchen for their djon-djon rice, Tacqueria Nixtamal for their great tacos and Matylda’s for their mushroom pierogies.

We also want to thank our vendors, all of whom gave visitors something good to take away from the festival: Immorel sparkling mushroom teas, Mushroom Queens, Smallhold.

If you’re interested in finding out more about any of these organizations, check out the dedicated page on our website.

Fungus Festival could have never happened without the steadfast support of the Randall’s Island Park Alliance who not only offered the Urban Farm to us for free, but provided many of the tables, chairs, tents, toilets, yoga mats and heaps of practical advice. They were in the trenches with us since January and enthusiastic members of our planning team. Chris, Ciara, Anna, the comms team and the on-the-ground staff deserve a huge thank you from all of us!

But the biggest thank you of all, like always, goes to Sneha Ganguly @kali_mushrooms who has been working tirelessly for the last ten months to organize Fungus Festival. Fungus Festival is her brainchild, and it is her connections, reputation, organizational talents, energy, ideas, fanatical attention to detail and sheer hard work that made Fungus Festival 2023 the success it was. Thank you Sneha!

Please let me know if I’ve forgotten to mention someone and I’ll call them out in a future email!