point reyes mycoblitz

Bear Valley Visitor Center Fungus Fair
January 27, 2008

The third annual Fungus Fair at the Bear Valley Visitor Center on Sunday, January 27, 2008, was attended by over 200 people. Our mushrooms, treated like fungal royalty, were in fine and fetching shape. Because we held this event at a time that did not coincide with a Mycoblitz, we collected up at Salt Point the day before the fair. Darvin DeShazer, our man in Sebastopol, helped ID our finds as we returned to the Bay Area late Saturday. We had to turn our heads and walk away from the profusion of edibles pouring out of the ground, and we STILL had so many that we didn't know what to do with them all! Edibles entered into all of our displays, and we gave them away wholesale (so to speak, no money exchanged hands) to folks who had never tried them.

Our displays crawled over a couple of tables, bright with color and form and magic. Baskets contained a few interesting collections, and we made due on the corts by clustering their many interesting forms and colors in one area, and calling it "cort corner!" We tried to get away from latin where we could, and kept the displays wholly accessible. Visitors gasped to see the diversity.

Folks pored over our Visitor Center "dry" displays, and many photos were taken of our basket of winter edibles. People viewed a reenactment of the Mycoblitz, down to a collecting basket with specimen labels, collecting boxes and waxies! BAMS membership forms flew out the door. My two talks were SRO, and had a nice mix of newbies and those who had been around the fungal block one or two times.

The Park staff was beyond delighted with our presentation, and the crowds that we drew. The Superintendant of the Park thanked me personally for our fine job. According to the Ranger on staff, over two hundred folks showed up at Pt. Reyes exclusively for the Fair. Our attendees were a nice mix of local West Marin-ites, East Bay folks, BAMS boosters and goodness knows who all else; all happily viewing the beautiful fungi in amazement.

Special thanks to Christa Burgoyne, who helped set up and merrily chatted with visitors all day. Thanks also to Doug Smith, who traveled far to give much, while being a simu-babysitter for his two charming children, and Dimitar and Tatiana and especially Alex, for lending their support and company. Erin brought us specimens and drew us a lovely amanita on an artist's conk, which will become part of the BAMS repertoire. You were all great, and much appreciated.

Next year, the Red Barn! Fun with fungi, indeed.

Debbie and David