It’s no secret that mushrooms have exploded into the cultural limelight over the last few years. Their versatility as food, medicine, material, and catalyst for mind expansion seems to know no bounds, and a critical mass of people around the world are engaging with these curious organisms in pursuit of a better future for people and the planet. From solo mycopreneurs to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, everyone wants a piece of the fungi pie – and a chance to gather at mushroom events.
To keep your finger on the pulse and stay connected to the rapidly evolving global mushroom space, here are seven upcoming mushroom festivals that you should know about.
International Psychedelic Conference
Mushroom potency testing pioneers Oakland Hyphae are going global with their debut International Psychedelic Conference set to pop off in Negril, Jamaica, September 14-15.
The visionary team producing the event has sold out Oakland, Los Angeles, and DC mushroom conferences under their belts and is looking to expand upon the reputation they’ve earned as the most disruptive organization in psychedelics.
The speaker lineup and workshop announcements have yet to be publicly revealed, but this is business as usual for the Oakland Hyphae Team. Their strong community connections and ability to draw a crowd from coast to coast internationally, coupled with the tropical backdrop in a jurisdiction where psilocybin mushrooms are fully legal to possess, cultivate, distribute, and engage in commerce around – ensures that this will be a mushroom event for the ages.
Their ability to balance rigorous science, professionalism, narrative control, and cultural relevance with extreme accessibility and community service has inspired a generation of mycophiles and landed the grassroots org in Rolling Stone, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, and numerous other acclaimed international media in addition to establishing them as one of the most influential grassroots organizations of our era.
All Things Fungi Festival
The inaugural All Things Fungi festival is set to kick off in the picturesque English countryside in West Sussex from September 13th – 15th. This celebration of the mycoverse is timed just before the autumn equinox, an auspicious time of the year when the famed Psilocybe semilanceata (“Liberty Cap”) mushrooms emerge from their subterranean mycelial ecosystems and flush across the British Isles.
Prominent international mycologists and stewards of mushroom lore will take the stage and present on topics ranging from wild mushroom identification to mycoremediation (did you know some species of fungi can clean up oil spills and eat plastic?) to slime molds to the state of the international mushroom business ecosystem – which I myself am co-presenting on with Marc Violo of MycoStories.
Yours truly will also be hosting a mushroom game show as part of the opening festivities, something I’ve been working diligently on my British accent and cultural references in anticipation of.
In addition to consolidating an impressive array of homegrown talent across the UK, All Things Fungi aims to serve as a bridge to the mushroom community ‘on the other side of the pond’ in the United States. In a world where international relations at large seem to be in short supply, I am very excited at the prospect of ‘Fungi Diplomacy.’
Humboldt Fungi Fest
Humboldt County may very well be known as a global capital of cannabis, but its homegrown mushroom culture should receive equal recognition. Humboldt Fungi Fest is set to take place at the Culture Shrooms Humboldt location on September 21st.
This gathering of the Northern California mushroom community will showcase the latest of what’s happening in the mycopreneurial space in the Golden State, including appearances by industry-leading functional mushroom coffee purveyors Mycroboost, prolific mushroom substrate company Twisted Tree Nursery, and homegrown heroes Humboldt Mycology.
If you’re in Northern California or able to travel for an event that will showcase the cutting edge of the mushroom space, add Humboldt Fungi Fest to your calendar to keep your finger on the beating pulse of the heart of the mycoverse.
Shroom Sabha
Shroom Sabha, India’s first mushroom festival, is back for its second year from October 4 – 7 in the stunningly beautiful and mushroom rich Periya Forest Reserve in the southern state of Kerala. I was in attendance and fortunate to present a talk on the state of the global mycopreneurial ecosystem at last year’s festival, which announced the definitive arrival of the mushroom revolution in India in a major way.
In the time since the first event culminated, many of the organizers and their respective mushroom brands have made major headway across the 1.5 billion populated subcontinent of India. Workshops and presentations focusing on the unique natural mushroom ecosystem across the massive geographic and biodiverse landscapes of India will take place side by side with ultramodern scientific research and development showcases, and perhaps even a spellbinding magic show if last year’s event holds any pretense for the offerings this year.
Nuvedo founders appeared on Shark Tank India and have been mainstays in the international press since then, with mentions in such prestigious outlets as High Times, Condé Nast, and many more.
Shroom Sabha promises to be one of the marquee events in the mushroom conference and festival space globally, and deserves its place among the rest of the offerings in the United States, UK, and beyond.
Oklahoma Mushroom Festival
The Oklahoma Mushroom Festival is back for its 2nd year and is primed to be a milestone event running October 12-13 in Oklahoma City. The 17,000 square foot Oklahoma City Fairgrounds Modern Living building will serve as the backdrop for this family-friendly fungi celebration featuring 35 + expert speakers, 100 + vendors, an immersive experience room, and numerous hands-on workshops relating to every imaginable myco-centric topic – and there are many.
Mushroom enthusiasts and entrepreneurs from across the United States are dialed in to descend upon the Sooner State and learn about its largely unheralded Funga (Flora, Fauna, and Funga) – including a native Oklahoma wild Psilocybe cubensis species that Oklahoma Mushroom Festival founder Jacob DeVecchio of Oklahoma Fungi mushroom company was the first to document, describe, and archive in 2022. With tickets ranging from $15 for a one-day General Admission pass to $100 for the full weekend VIP Package, the Oklahoma Mushroom Festival is incredibly accessible and signals to other prospective mushroom entrepreneurs and event organizers that you can be both affordable to the public and profitable.
From myco-materials workshops (did you know you can make mushroom paper, mushroom leather, and about 1000 other materials from fungi?) to a highly anticipated keynote from the world-renowned Willy Myco – as well as a talk on the role of humor in building a mushroom business and navigating the mushroom universe that I’ll be giving during the event.
The Oklahoma Mushroom Festival is making its case to be the event of the year, and I’ll be reporting from the ground as this landmark event unfolds in real-time.
2nd Annual Colorado Psychedelic Cup
The 2nd Annual Colorado Psychedelic Cup is back as the de facto hub for psilocybin mushroom science and community celebration in the decriminalized Denver Metropolitan Area. This year’s cup promises to exponentially improve on the considerable success of last year’s event and features analytical potency testing provided by the increasingly prolific Tryptomics Elevated Natural Product Research lab that has been making waves across mainstream media of late.
In the wake of the Diamond Shruumz fiasco that tied dozens of hospitalizations and two potentially associated deaths to a bogus underground psychedelic product purveyor advertising their products as being ‘mushroom edibles,’ psilocybin mushroom fruit & product testing has never been more important than it is at this moment. The Psychedelic Club of Denver and the mycopreneurs organizing this cup aim to realize effective and immediate solutions to the challenges presented by massive consumer demand for a largely unregulated product landscape, and the 2nd Annual Colorado Psychedelic Cup is at the vanguard of this community initiative to set rigorous and world-class standards for the emerging psilocybin mushroom product landscape before waiting for notoriously glacially-paced federal regulatory bodies to do so.
Entheogen Expo
The Entheogen Expo is headed to Oakland, California, this coming November 9th for another iteration of what has quickly become one of the most prestigious events in the mushroom space. I attended the last Entheogen Expo earlier this year in my hometown of San Diego and was duly impressed by the draw of this low-key and largely unadvertised event. Pound for Pound, Entheogen Expo brings an unparalleled who’s who of mushroom community advocates and researchers to the table wherever it goes.
Past keynote appearances and workshop presenters have included the legendary mycologist Alan Rockefeller, renowned fungi researcher and geneticist Wumbo Myco, and one-stop shop for fungi research supplier Miss Mush So Cal, in addition to the event founder and myco community pioneer Agarboi.
With a decidedly coy and demure approach to promo, the best way to stay attuned to the developments happening in the run-up to Entheogen Expo is to follow them on Instagram (@entheogenexpo) and check the website for ticket availability as the date approaches.
The mushroom event scene is here to stay
The mushroom conference and festival scene is picking up major steam worldwide alongside the mushroom revolution at large, and we can expect to see dozens more of these types of events take shape over the course of the next year. It’s interesting to note that a number of the events showcased above are in their second year and drawing from the successes and challenges of their inaugural editions, meaning that we are likely to see increasingly professionalized, sophisticated, and impactful mushroom events as organizers and mycopreneurs hit their stride and expand upon the reputation they’ve built in the early years of the ‘Shroom Boom.’
There have even been recent mushroom festivals in Uganda, Chile, and many more parts of the world that don’t always register on the radars of mycophiles in the Global North. If one thing is certain, it’s that the mushroom community is global, prolific, and growing rapidly thanks to the diligence and devotion of mycopreneurs and mushroom events such as those referenced above.
*This article was submitted by a guest contributor. The author is solely responsible for its contents.
