The 6th Annual Cumberland Fungus Fest is HERE – Oct 2-5, 2025
We’re back and we are SO excited to see you for our 4 day interdisciplinary celebration of fungus and forest ecology! Science Pub, Fungus Bazaar, Harvest Dinner, guided walks, talks, art, panel discussions and more await you! And all of it supports the work of the Cumberland Forest!
All Ages Fun All Weekend
Admission Includes exclusive access to register for guided walks
Thursday eve Science Pub - SOLD OUT
Friday - Sunday weekend passes still available!
ALL EVENTS REQUIRE A FUNGUS FEST PASS.
Onsite talks, workshops, panels, art projects and access to registration links are all included in your weekend pass. Think of it like a “fungus fringe festival”
Talks & Workshops are 50 minutes.
Guided Walks and Harvest Dinner + Dance require additional registration + fees
- Walk up sales will be available only if space allows! Guided walk options may be limited
- Thursday Science Pub walk up tickets MAY be available at the door AFTER 6:45 after weekend pass holders have seated themselves for $20
- Pop In admission to Friday’s Fungus Bazaar is welcome suggested donation $5 -$10
- Additional Saturday Harvest Dinner + Dance tickets go on sale Oct 1st for $25 if available
All these events take place at the Lower Cultural Centre – 2674 Dunsmuir Ave
Thursday Oct 2
4pm
Cumberland Museum
MUSHROOMS OF BC – BOOK SIGNING EVENT – visit the Cumberland Museum and Archives for a special reading and booking signing event with Andy MacKinnon. Bring your own copy to be signed or pick one up there!
7pm
Lower Cultural Centre – 2674 Dunsmuir Ave
CCFS Science Pub: Fabulous Fungi! – SOLD OUT
Join us for the kick off event for the 6th Annual Cumberland Fungus Fest! We’ll settle in with some locally crafted beers and other on theme beverages and take in some highly stimulating and often amusing presentations from our guest experts all about their passion for fungus and forests. We’ll cover the gamut of fun fungus facts and fancies and get you all warmed up for the weekend.
*Doors open at 6:15. Weekend Pass holders get priority seating until 6:45. Then tickets are open to the public for $20.
Friday Oct 3
2pm
Lower Cultural Centre
Yabai! The Shadow Culture of Mushrooms in Japan
Did you know that psilocybin mushrooms were legally and openly sold in Japan until 2002? A recent business trip to Japan led David M. Lyon to an unexpected investigation into the elusive and enigmatic history of mushroom culture in Japan. Yabai!
2pm
Big Tent
Halcyon Wild Food & Free the Fungi.
More details coming soon
3pm
Lower Cultural Centre
What’s so great about mushrooms?
An exploration with Thom O’Dell of the myriad ways people use mushrooms and fungi. Guaranteed to expand your appreciation for mushrooms and fungi.
3pm
Big Tent
The Marvellous World of Medicinal Mushrooms
Delve in with Philippa Joly, community/clinical herbalist.
Together we will meet and make tea with some local fungi and learn about how they and some of their plant and lichen friends can keep us and our loved ones healthy through the winter months and beyond.
3pm
Harmonic Arts
The World of Functional Fungi
Yarrow Willard of Harmonic Arts and master herbalist, shared his passion for natural world, medicinal mushrooms, and building community.
4pm
Lower Cultural Centre
Unlocking the Myco Map BC Project with Vail Paterson and Elora Adamson
4pm
Magic Under the Trees
Mycelial Being with RootZ
14 + playshop for our sacred wild child featuing improv & clowning, restorative play. Sign up at event no fee
4pm
Big Tent
Cultivating Fungi for Home and Forest.
Erik Hrabovsky of Free The Fungi on cultivating mushrooms and mycelium for benefit in the garden, forest, home and life.
4:30pm
Harmonic Arts
Death Cafe
Join local hospice volunteers for a guided discussion with friends old and new about death and dying….and even its connection with fungi ❤️
90 min - 2 hours - Additional Registration Required (pass holders will be emailed registration links - not all walks will have space remaining this close to event)
2pm
Forest Walk with Andy MacKinnon (allow 2 hours)
Join Andy for a special glimpse into the second growth ecosystems of the Cumberland Community Forest! Learn more about the forest ecology of this old growth forest in waiting. Leaves from Fungus Fest HQ
2:30pm
Mushroom ID 101
with Mushroom Enthusiast Vail Paterson For mushroom enthusiasts – ID 101 – let’s get started. Learn how to ID in the field and explore the forests and trails near the Village. Leaves from Fungus Fest HQ
3pm
Ecosystem Decoding in the Cumberland Forest
Guided Walk with Erik Piikkila Join forest ecologist Erik Piikkila and discover the clues on the land that help us understand what has happened or changed in a forest over the decades and centuries. He’s explore trails in the Cumberland Forest filled with surprises.
4pm
Mushroom ID Walk with Thom O’Dell
Brush up on identification skills, learn about fungi in ecosystems and whatever other burning topics come to mind. Thom O’Dell Ph.D., P.Ag. is a mycologist with decades of experience studying and teaching about mushrooms. Leaves from Fungus Fest HQ
4:30pm
Guided Walk with Yarrow Willard
Join Master Herbalist Yarrow Willard of Harmonic Arts for an exploration of the wonders (and fungi) of the Cumberland Forest. Meet at Fungus Fest HQ.
5pm
Myco Mapping BC
Guided Walk with Vail Paterson and Elora Adamson. The MycoMap BC Network is a DNA Sequencing Project: Toward a census of macrofungi for British Columbia. There is an open call for specimens from the entire province as a part of the MycoMap Network. Learn more!
5pm
Guided Walk with Andy MacKinnon Join Andy for a special glimpse into the second growth ecosystems of the Cumberland Community Forest! Learn more about the forest ecology of this old growth forest in waiting. Leaves from Fungus Fest HQ
DINNER BREAK
7-10pm
Lower Cultural Centre
Fungus Bazaar
Tonight we celebrate the fabulous world of fungi! Join us for this fun filled fungus and forest themed artisan market, live music and more! Special guest DJ Driem!
Walk ups can attend without pass for a suggested $10 donation to CCFS
7-8:30pm
Under the Stars
Fireside Chats w/Adrian Oberg, Mark Worthing & Friends
8:30 – 10:00 pm
Under the Stars
Michael Red and Tsimka in Concert!
A collaboration of music from the land and from the heart (and knowing and listening).
Tsimka sings and speaks and sometimes plays a drum. Most lyrics are in Tsimka’s heritage language Tla-o-qui-aht ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ. Her themes deal with love, cleansing, healing, liberation through imagining and more.
Michael creates and reveals music & atmospheres with the natural sounds recorded by Tsimka from her ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ home territory, and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh territory (where she lived recently for 2 years). Breaking ice as light percussive rhythm, bull kelp head explosions becoming kick drum patterns, a Squamish valley wolf, a large cat in the dark.. Cixwatsac (Frank Island frogs), Swainson’s Thrush, other birds. a little creek at Hiłwinʔis, ocean, rain and mist
Tsimka’s voice is also used as an instrument through live fx and is embedded in Michael’s pre-made production (which is dubbed out and layered and effected live). Words and tones and expressions are shaped and woven into all layers of the sonic fabric, from deeply embedded to very visible.