Liam McNally
What is sure to be Ballan’s FUNgi-est weekend of the year is just around the corner with the inaugural Moorabool Mushroom Festival hitting town on April 15 and 16.
The celebration, organised by MYCOmmunity, will be spreading the spores of mushroom knowledge at the Ballan Mechanics Institute, with talks, workshops, nature walks, art, a social event and a market with food and face-painting.
More than 20 speakers will attend the festival to teach guests about a whole mycelium of fungi-facts including ecology, citizen-science, cultivation, foraging, food, medicine, mycoremediation, and mycomaterials.
Key speakers include author of ‘Wild Mushrooming’ and ‘The Allure of Fungi’ Dr Alison Pouliot, mycologist, author of several fungi guidebooks and Fungi for Land project lead Dr Sapphire McMullan-Fisher and Australia’s first psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy study chief principal investigator Dr Margaret Ross.
The event will also include a dinner and social event on the Saturday night, and The Ballan Artists Collective will be holding a fungi themed art exhibition to coincide with the festival from April 14th to 30th.
MYCOmmunity is a not-for-profit community organisation that aims to increase public awareness about fungi and the vital role they play in the ecosystem, for health and environmental sustainability.
All proceeds from the festival will go to cover costs, to next year’s festival or to local citizen science projects such as monitoring fungi in Wombat Forest.
MYCOmmunity co-founder and event coordinator Emma Corro said setting up the first festival has been a lot of work but people “seem really excited”.
“I’m really excited for the festival, mushroom festivals are a big thing overseas so we thought there was a space to do one over hear. There’s a growing interest for mushrooms in the community,” she said.
Details: myco.tidyhq.com/public/schedule/events/48555-mushroom-festival
