Calling all fungi fans! Whether you favor lilac boletes or chicken of the woods, you were guaranteed to fin the wild mushroom of your dreams at the October 15th Wild Mushroom Festival in Mystic. The festival is a signature Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center event and aims to highlight the wilderness of Connecticut as well as raise money for the Nature Center’s various programs. The Nature Center resides on over 300 acres, including the nearby Coogan Farm, and uses the land to host a variety of nature-oriented events year-round. It is a non-profit preserve, animal sanctuary, and educational space. As a result, all of their events are fully staffed by volunteers. Aside from the Wild Mushroom Festival, it is perhaps the most well-known for its outdoor education programs which range from birding afternoons to regular hikes. While these events usually attract a steady crowd of participants, this year’s Wild Mushroom Festival was undoubtedly one of the most popular events in recent history.
The festival lands on National Mushroom Day and is part of a larger, week-long celebration of wild mushrooms at the Nature Center. “Mushrooms are kind of everywhere,” said Anna Sawin, the Director of Communications at the Nature Center. Thanks so a rising interest in mushroom foraging and general mushroom-themed items during lockdown, the festival say massive success this year and sold out two days before it was held. “All we had to do was announce that we were having it and people started buying tickets. It really seems like people have been waiting for it to come back,” noted Sawin. The keynote speaker at the Wild Mushroom Festival this year was Amy Demers, who founded the Connecticut Foraging Club in early 2021 and did not have a particular interest in foraging until the pandemic. Demers’ club, along with many other groups across the state, is host to regular mushroom foraging events and educational sessions.
The Wild Mushroom Festival experienced a bit of remodeling this year given that the event had not been held in-person since 2019. Due to ongoing Covid-19 concerns, the festival was limited to about 400 attendees. However, this limitation did not put a damper on the festivities. In fact, the festival was at its liveliest in years. Groups like the Connecticut Foraging Club provided plenty of inspiration for new activities and the Nature Center was able to invite 25 new vendors to the artisan market for a total of 37 vendors on site. This made for an eclectic selection of mushroom-themed wares which were on-sale throughout the day.
On the day of the festival, attendees followed a rug- ged path through the forest preserve, crossing streams and coming upon rescued hawks housed in broad cages. The trekkers walked until they were eventually greeted by the sound of folk music and the smell of mushroom stew wafting over the trees as they entered the rustic dale where the festival was held. According to one attendee, “the full experience was akin journeying through an enchanted forest and coming upon a hidden fairy gathering.” Once inside the festival grounds, mushroom fans could be found wandering the woods with Amy Demers, sifting through forager Keith Kelly’s mushroom identification table, or inside a small cabin attending wild mushroom talks hosted by a range of experts. There were three main clearings with two operating as satellite spaces to one larger field. Various vendors bordered each of the clearings.
Among the vendors in attendance was Ellen Perry Hammen of Sweet Art Attack Ceramics. Hammen was contacted by the Nature Center this past summer with an invitation to sell her mushroom-themed dishware at the festival. She predominantly sells online, however in speaking with her on-site, she expressed gratitude for the opportunity to meet her patrons in person. Nikki Saccoccia, another artisan, was at the festival representing her business NatureHappyMe. Saccoccia was selling birch bark earrings and art prints. “A lot of my work is inspired by my wildlife photography. Actually, mainly photos taken here on this property at the Nature Center,” said Saccoccia of her art. Along with mushrooms, her prints depict owls who live in the sanctuary at the Nature Center and represent the seven years that she spent working there as an environmental educator. A slew of local eateries were represented as well including BleuSquid which is a breakfast, lunch, and bakery cafe in Olde Mistick Village. The owner of the BleuSquid, Gail Filippetti, was on-site serving mushroom dip and rosemary focaccia to attendees.
Those who were unable to attend the festival and are intrigued by the opportunity to experience the magic of the preserve first-hand are in luck. Autumn is an event- ful season for the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center with the Spooky Nature Trails coming up on October 21st and 22nd. Additionally, if reading this article has given you the mushroom bug, the Connecticut College Arboretum is packed with a variety of seasonal mush- rooms including jelly ear and chanterelles. It is advised, though, to attend a mushroom foraging session with a group such as the Connecticut Foraging Club prior to taking off on your own wild adventure. •
