October 25, 2012: Each year, the Puget Sound Mycological Society puts on a two-day Wild Mushroom Show. There are cooking demos, lectures, folks to help you with ID, mushroom artwork and crafts, a marketplace and of course, tons of examples of mushrooms.
Although there is a marketplace (the year these photos were taken seemed to mostly have mushroom-related crafts and some mushroom growing kits), the show is more focused on education and appreciation than wild mushroom commerce. One year, some friends of mine went thinking it would be maybe like our local chocolate fest (where you can sample and buy lots of varieties) but that's not quite the angle. However, I think they still enjoyed themselves, and if you are curious about all things mushroom, you probably will too.
Here's a sampling of the variety of mushrooms you might meet. Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric).
Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom)
Hypmyces lactifluorum (Lobster Mushroom)
Boletus edulis
Hericium abietis (Bear's Head Fungus). Check out this post from forager and author Langdon Cook for more info.
Agaricus, the genus of the popular button mushroom Agaricus bisporus.
Agaricus augustus (The Prince). Here is the royal relative of our grocery store button mushroom. The Prince is a choice edible. It is said to have a bitter almond smell. I didn't know that at the time or I would have take a big whiff at the show.
Coprinopsis atramentaria (Inky Cap)
Ganoderma applanatum (Artist's Conk). These are quite common around the Sound. You can write or draw on the pale-colored underside of the shelf mushroom; it turns brown when scratched. If you see this on a tree, it means the tree might not be long for this world as it's generally a sign of wood decay or a weakening system.
Nidula candida (Bird's Nest Fungi). These examples don't quite show the bird's nestiness of Bird's Next Fungus, but the charm of this particular fungus is that its spores are egg-shaped and housed in these little structures, and look all the world like a tiny nest. The spores are dispersed when a drop of water falls in and knocks them out. You can see a picture with the spores in them in this gallery.
The show also has cooking demos. This is not the best picture, but here Kathy Casey shows folks some delicious ways to use mushrooms.
And there are examples of some mushroom crafts, like mushroom dyeing.
Mushroom dyed felt forest
There is an art show of fungi-focused art.
Artist Alexander Viazmensky from St. Petersburg Russia visited for the show, and did paintings live.
Here is his website: http://www.pelcor.com/mushrooms/SashaMushrooms.html I'm not sure if he's back this year as they are still finalizing the daily schedules, but keep an eye on the site for the line up: http://www.psms.org/show.php