BAMS Rocks Cal Academy Nightlife Event
Thursday, July 6, 2017
With lots of great signage, captivating displays and a crew of engaging mycophiles, we drew heavy crowds at the California Academy of Sciences Nightlife event, themed "Survival". At other exhibits, folks could learn about outdoor photography, backpacking tips, topical medicinal plants, and wilderness survival. With all of the poster text and our browsing library, we were fortunate to have the only location with consistently good lighting. The event features live music and cocktails and a mostly youthful audience. This was definitely a crowd with a bent towards science.
 |
 |
 |
If you've been to the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair, you may have seen longtime member Marty Newman with his famous Amanita hat in the doorway of the Kid's Room. Marty was generous to loan the hat to BAMS for our event. David Rust wore the hat (most of the evening) and prowled the aisles to drum up visitors to our tables. During the course of the evening, many Amanita hat selfies were requested and granted. One couple came up to ask some questions and made a joke about the hat. "I wasn't sure about the joke," says David, "but their answer was precious. 'We're nerds', they said, and then laughed as if it were not a very obvious secret."
Our great crew included Cat Adams, working on her PhD at the Bruns Lab at UC Berkeley. Cat was a real trouper despite her still healing ankle, and stood for most of the evening, engaging many, many people with her knowledge and enthusiasm, as she hung out beside her old friend, Amanita phalloides (in giant sculptural form)! George Riner, our friend and colleague from SOMA, had fun engaging the public and talking about our fave topic: mushrooms! Theresa Halula, mushroom cultivation instructor at Merritt College and a member of the MSSF, talked about cultivated and wild mushrooms with a fascinated public. Phil Carpenter, a prominent member of the FFSC, held court by the Edible/Poisonous mushroom table, discussing differences and similarities between mushrooms and sharing his many decades of myco-wisdom. Folks were hanging onto his words. Peter Werner, microscopy instructor at Merritt College, added his myco-talents. Ranger Amy Wolitzer, with whom we have partnered for our annual Mushroom Madness in Livermore for many years, shared her knowledge and enthusiasm. All in all, it was a grand melting pot of the many clubs and people who make up our greater Bay Area myco-scene.
Since our goal was education about the difference between edible and poisonous mushrooms, should one be forced into a "survival" situation, we created a special poster on the topic. You can see this poster at our next fungus fair.
All this, along with decent cocktails and access to all of those great Cal Academy exhibits without the crowds!
 |
 |
 |
The Academy and the crowd loved us, and with good reason. We shall return, to help bring the joy of mushrooms to the masses. Not everyone was a fungal fan who stopped by our tables, but everyone who spoke with us or read and viewed our displays was surely intrigued, if not wholly convinced, yet.
© Photos by Amy Wolitzer and David Rust
