2022 Mushroom Fair 

Mushrooms costumes on the attendees and on the t-shirts for sale at the Humboldt Bay Mycological Society's Mushroom Fair .

This attendee's t-shirt gave fair warning about likely a commonly shared trait among mushroom fans at the Humboldt Bay Mycological Society's Mushroom Fair.

A lovely Amanita mushroom appeared in the crowd at the Humboldt Bay Mycological Society's Mushroom Fair. Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the Fly agaric or Fly amanita, this iconic large red mushroom, with its white spots, is one of the most recognizable fungi in popular culture. Illustrations of A. muscaria mushrooms fill many children's books, forming associations with magic, fairies, and the illusory world of the imagination. https://thethirdwave.co/psychedelics/amanita-muscaria. The name "Fly agaric" actually comes from a far more domestic purpose — as an insecticide that used the mushroom to kill the common house fly (Musca domestica). People would leave a piece of the mushroom's cap in a glass of water or milk, and the flies landing on the mushroom would be stunned, often drowning in the liquid. After emerging from the ground, the cap is covered with numerous small white to yellow pyramid-shaped warts. These are remnants of the universal veil, a membrane that encloses the entire mushroom when it is still very young.

Mushroom prints on shirts and mushroom costumes were in the crowd of attendees at the Humboldt Bay Mycological Society's Mushroom Fair.

Volunteer Dr. Bruce Kessler was back at his well-stocked "Toxic" mushroom table with his expertise on toxic mushrooms and likely medical outcomes if they're ingested at the Humboldt Bay Mycological Society's Mushroom Fair.

A packed parking lot at the Arcata Community Center and a large crowd at every display table inside at the 44th annual Humboldt Bay Mycological Society's Mushroom Fair.

Most of the volunteers at the display tables kept Noah Siegel's popular book, Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast, in hand to help talk about the mushroom species in front of them.

Sydney Fisher Larson, of Arcata, worked her smartphone magic with a large display of oyster mushrooms, the common name for the species Pleurotus ostreatus, at Sue-meg State Park.

We frequently find one of our favorite colorful local mushrooms, Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, at Sue-meg State Park north of Trinidad, and sometimes all along nearby highway 101. According to sources, after emerging from the ground, the cap is covered with numerous small white to yellow pyramid-shaped warts. These are remnants of the universal veil, a membrane that encloses the entire mushroom when it is still very young.

Tiny mushrooms on a Douglas fir cone.Photo by Mark Larson

We frequently find one of our favorite colorful local mushrooms, Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, at Sue-meg State Park north of Trinidad, and sometimes all along nearby highway 101. According to sources, after emerging from the ground, the cap is covered with numerous small white to yellow pyramid-shaped warts. These are remnants of the universal veil, a membrane that encloses the entire mushroom when it is still very young.

We frequently find one of our favorite colorful local mushrooms, Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, at Sue-meg State Park north of Trinidad, and sometimes all along nearby highway 101. According to sources, after emerging from the ground, the cap is covered with numerous small white to yellow pyramid-shaped warts. These are remnants of the universal veil, a membrane that encloses the entire mushroom when it is still very young.

We frequently find one of our favorite colorful local mushrooms, Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, at Sue-meg State Park north of Trinidad, and sometimes all along nearby highway 101. According to sources, after emerging from the ground, the cap is covered with numerous small white to yellow pyramid-shaped warts. These are remnants of the universal veil, a membrane that encloses the entire mushroom when it is still very young.