Fungus Fair 2025 - General Information
The Fungus Fair is held each January at the London Nelson Community Center in Santa Cruz.
Interested in volunteering to help out at the fair? Get a free admission and help make the fair incredible. For more information,go to https://ffsc.us/fair/2025/volunteers.
Come to Santa Cruz and explore the fascinating world of Fungi. Learn interesting and fun facts about the hundreds of beautiful and fascinating species of mushrooms found in the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Area. Fungi will be beautifully displayed in a re-created woodland habitat. This unique Santa Cruz tradition features three days of fantastic fun, informative speakers, fantastic food, vendors, and demonstrations, with fungal activities for the whole family.
Did you know that without fungus, we’d have no bread, cheese, beer, or wine? Or that anti-cholesterol medicine was developed from mushrooms? Come to the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair to learn all there is to know about the fascinating world of mushrooms.
This years speakers include Alan Rockefeller, Chris Hobbs, Christian Schwarz, Noah Siegel, Chad Hyatt, Bill Schoenbart, Thea Chesney, Henry Young, Shannon Adams, Phil Carpenter, Bob Wynn, Vellany Pierce, Douglas Smith, and Kyle Garrone.
We are encouraging everyone to buy a "timed entry" ticket to reduce crowding at the doors and inside the event. You should try to show up during your chosen time window to avoid delays getting in, but once you enter and get your hand stamp you are welcome to stay as long as you wish for the rest of the day.
Why buy an advanced ticket?
Buy a General Admission "timed entry" ticket to get faster entry and avoid waiting in the cash/credit card line. Buy Talk tickets to guarantee that you do not miss your favorite speakers. You should buy a "timed entry" ticket for a time slot at least 30 minutes before any talks you plan to attend.
Friday, Jan 10: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Adults/Students/Seniors $10
After-Hours Dinner 5:30pm - 9:00 pm Seperate admission
Saturday, January 11: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Adults $15, Students/Seniors $10
Sunday, January 12: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Adults $15, Students/Seniors $10
Talks in Room 3 are an additional $5 and children under 12 are always free.
London Nelson Community Center
301 Center Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
ACTIVITIES
FFSC mushroom experts will be available throughout the fair to identify the mushrooms you’ve found. Bring yours, ideally stored in a paper bag rather than plastic. Paper allows fungi to "breathe" and keeps them fresher!
Nationally and locally renowned speakers will present talks on a wide variety of topics in the Main Lecture Room (Room 3) and the Mushrooms 101 Room (Room 1). See the Speaker Schedule for details.
The habitat display area will present hundreds of mushroom species commonly found in the Santa Cruz/San Francisco/Monterey Bay area.
Visit the Kid's Room for mushroom activities such as clay sculpture, water colors, face painting, mushroom art and making mushroom dyed fabric. Peruse the fungus exploration area and look at spores through a microscope. Note to parents: the Kid's Room is only open on Saturday and Sunday.
Throughout the three day event, Fungus Fair attendees will be able to learn more about local mushrooms, view remarkable mushroom arts and crafts, taste unusual and exceptionally good fungal fare, and be a part of the FFSC’s overriding mission – “We Keep the Fun in Fungi!”
The FFSC actively promotes the study of mushrooms, and is dedicated to encouraging an avid interest in the fungal kingdom. We hunt mushrooms for scientific interest and for the table. We encourage a sense of wonder with regard to one of the least understood segments of our global environment. We are fungiphiles, and you just might be one, too...
This year's fair is a colloaborative effort between the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, with support of our sponsors, the Peninsula Open Space Trust.
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