There will be mushroom identification walks, mushroom vendors, lessons in how to identify, cultivate and cook mushrooms, a glow-in-the-dark mushroom walk, mushroom art and even a talk on ancient sacred mushroom rituals.
The Florida Mushroom Festival in Palatka Saturday will feature all things mushroom.
There will be mushroom identification walks, mushroom vendors, lessons in how to identify, cultivate and cook mushrooms, a glow-in-the-dark mushroom walk, mushroom art and even a talk on ancient sacred mushroom rituals.
So if you don’t know your portobello from your pecan truffle, not to worry.
The seventh annual Florida Mushroom Festival takes place at Palatka’s Ravine Gardens State Park on Saturday, having outgrown its past home in Interlachen, festival founder Pat High said.
High said she came up with the idea for the festival because of the popularity of mushroom growing workshops she used to host.
“We decided to go to Ravine Gardens because it’s considered to be the most biodiverse point in North Florida,” she said.
The new location means the festival can feature several new activities, including nature walks during the day and a bioluminescent mushroom walk at night.
The festival’s featured speaker this year will be well known mushroom photographer Taylor Lockwood. Lockwood’s photos have been featured in National Geographic, The New York Times, The Washington Post and even on a U.S. Postal Service stamp.
Lockwood will lead a mushroom identification workshop.
Other workshops include sacred mushroom rituals and the history and future of mushroom raising.
High wants one of the main messages of this year’s festival to be the value of raising mushrooms.
“Putnam County is the third poorest county in Florida, yet one of the best mushroom raising places in the whole world,” she said. “There’s no reason for us to be such a poor county if we all start raising mushrooms.”
The festival will conclude with a special benefit dinner featuring meals made from 10 types of locally raised mushrooms. It will also feature commentary from Tradd Cotter, a successful mushroom grower, about how to grow and prepare each type of mushroom.
“If you’re a mushroom eater, if you’re a mushroom raiser or a mushroom wonderer and wonder about mushrooms, this dinner is like none that’s ever been had,” High said.
Tickets for the event are $10 for everyone ages 14 and up. The benefit dinner begins at 6 p.m. and costs $75 in advance and can be found through the Florida Mushroom Festival’s Facebook page.
Ravine Gardens State Park is at 1600 Twigg St., Palatka and the festival runs from 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
