The 6th Annual Cumberland Fungus Fest is coming – Oct 2-5, 2025
SUNDAY SCHEDULE
Fungus Fun All Weekend
Admission ($50 for adults and $25 for 18 & under)
Includes exclusive access to register for guided walks as of September 19th!
Sunday Oct 5
9:30am
Lower Cultural Centre
Early Sunday Morning nerdiness with Andy MacKinnon!
Join Andy and surprise guests for this church of fungi session!
9:30am
Big Tent
Origami Mushroom Party + Intro to ID
with Heather Soo + Erin Feldman! Start the day off with some hands on mushroom Origami while taking in some Intro to fungi ID basics!
11am
Harmonic Arts
Danu Folk School – Land based art, crafts and story activities for kids and the young at heart
11:30 am
Lower Cultural Centre
Stay tuned!
Some great presentation will be happening here.
11am
Big Tent
Mandie Bumble AMAZING Felting Workshop
Make your own beautiful felted mushrooms with artist Mandie Bumble as a souvenir of your Fungus Fest adventures! Limited Spaces (due to materials) – sign up required at Fungus fest HQ Tent
Additional Registration Required
(pass holders will be emailed registration links)
9:30am
Experiencing Fungi First Hand. Guided walk with Kent Brothers. There’s only so much you can learn from print, video presentations, & AI chatbots.” Leaves from Fungus Fest HQ
9:30am
Forest Fungi Foray
Join mushroom nerds Heather Scott and Erik Hrabovsky, and fellow foragers, to learn some basic mushroom identification skills and how to recognize abundance in edible wild foods to appreciate, observe, process and preserve! Learn about guidebooks, key features for genus recognition, edible mushroom ID (of course), safety and orientation in the woods and practices to encourage ecological health!
10:30am
Lichen Walk with Dr. Randal Mindell
Meet at Japanese #1 Town. Randal is a Comox Valley-based cryptogamic botanist with a particular interest in mosses, liverworts, and crustose lichens.
10:30am
Family Fungi Walk
Erin Feldman + Vail Paterson Intro to ID, how to collect specimens, all ages welcome for this fun forest foray! Leaves from Fungus fest HQ
11:30am
Field Sketching 101 with Lyndsay Fraser
Whether you’re hoping to improve your field sketching techniques, looking for an excuse to get back into art, or have never attempted to draw and are convinced you can’t, this workshop is for you! These drawing exercises will help you capture the important details of what you see; it’s not only fun, but these techniques can help you improve your ID skills too! All supplies provided, but feel free to bring your own pencils, paper, or sketch pads if you have them.
11:30am
Fabulous Fungus Foray with Andy MacKinnon
Off we go, into the Cumberland Forest… who knows WHAT we’ll find? Join us for a fabulous fungus foray in the resilient second growth ecosystems of the Cumberland Forest – Leaves from Fungus Fest HQ
NOON
Magic Under the Trees
Foragers Tea Party with RootZ
A fungus inspired tea-party where you’re invited to drink wild-crafted polypore teas! Curious detectives of all shapes and experiences are invited to listen for secrets that thrive within rooting wood, and taste their fruitful benefits. There’s mysteries to solve here that call our keenest senses into playful discovery ~ Although a tickle-trunk of costumes can be expected, all attending are welcome to arrive dressed up for such an occasion. Together, as curious mycophiles and mycelial-minding Forest guests, we celebrate through the songs, stories and the healing teas that connect us.
*Pack a travel mug/thermos to taste teas and bring your own snacks “
12:30
Lower Cultural Centre
Forest Jedi Sunday Musings
Yarrow Willard of Harmonic Arts and master herbalist, shared his passion for natural world, medicinal mushrooms, and building community.
NOON
Big Tent
How Fungi and Forests Work (and where the faeires fit in)
1:30 pm
Lower Cultural Centre
Stories from the Mazatec
with David M. Lyon
Reflections on the Traditional Mazatec Velada Ceremony and the Use of Sacred Mexican Psilocybes
An honest personal account of a decade spent exploring and practicing the traditional Mazatec velada ceremony, a vital but oft-overlooked cultural practice at the heart of the psychedelic movement.
1pm
Big Tent
Mother | Mycelium
w/ Andi Grace Rose. For all those involved in the path of mothering: mamas, aunties, mothers to be, or anyone to whom the work of mothering resonates in some way. We will discuss how mothering is woven with mycelium. Do you forage with your children? Use fungi to support the health and well being of your family? Are you curious about microdosing while pregnant, breastfeeding or parenting? What has the forest taught you about motherhood and cultivating family? All lines of inquiry welcome.
2pm
Harmonic Arts
Conservation Burial Group Discussion.
How does the CCFS contnue to explore the idea of a green burial site in Cumberland? What does it mean, what are the steps and why do we want it?
2pm
Big Tent
Ethical and sustainable foraging practices
Discussion and leaning all about how the forager can help promote patches and ecological health. Exploring reciprocity! With Erik Hrabovsky & Heather Scott
3pm
Harmonic Arts Covered Area
FUNGUS ROUND UP – join fellow attendees, knowledge holders, ID experts and more for a wrap up celebration of all the specimens we collected! Will there be songs? Very likely yes!
Additional Registration Required
(pass holders will be emailed registration links)
12:30pm
Guided Fungi Walk & Intro to ID
Heather Soo + Vail Paterson lead you to the beautiful Cumberland Forest for intro to ID, how to collect specimens, all ages welcome!
1pm
EcoSystem Decoding in the Cumberland Forest.
Exploring Mama Bears Trail of Tears with Erik Piikkila. to see what clues have been left about fires, logging, mining and more! How is this beautiful second growth ecosystem recovering? What do we see? Leave from Fungus Fest HQ
1:30pm
Forest Exporations with the Herbal Jedi
Yarrow Willard of Harmonic Arts and master herbalist, shares his passion for natural world, medicinal mushrooms, and building community IN the Cumberland Forest!
1:30pm
Lichen Walk with Dr. Randal Mindell
@ Japanese #1 Town. Dr. Randal Mindell is a Comox Valley-based cryptogamic botanist with a particular interest in mosses, liverworts and crustose lichens. Meet at Japanese #1 Townsite