Media and Publicity If you're a member of the press or just looking for news about the Fungus Fair, we've collected useful info for you below. Fungus Fair Logo Artwork Members of the press are welcome to download and use these Santa Cruz Fungus Fair art files for publication. Please credit the artists and copyright holders. 2026 Santa Cruz Fungus Fair Logo This year we held a logo design contest focusing on “Underground Wonders: Secrets of the Fungal Kingdom” as the 2026 Fair theme. The winning design was created by Viel Xander Olaguera (@vxolaguera) from Torrance, CA. The logo will be used on this year's T-shirts, posters, and postcards. Plus, several of the other contest entries will be on display during the Fair. The 2026 logo uses the concept of “wood wide web” to emphasize the underground network of fungi that connects our world's plants. The design portrays the following California fungi, selected for their different features (from left to right and down): Zombie-ant fungus ( Ophiocordyceps unilateralis ), growing from its host carpenter ant A lobster mushroom ( Hypomyces lactifluorum ), a parasitic fungus best known as an edible delicacy and for dyeing textiles A King Bolete ( Boletus edulis ), better-known in grocery stores and restaurants as "porcini" Honey fungus ( Armillaria mellea ), a plant pathogen known to arborists as "oak root rot," to the curious for its bioluminescent mycelium, and to others for its subtle nutty and sweet flavor A death cap ( Amanita phalloides ), one of the most poisonous fungi in the world Mycelium, as the "wood wide web" Inspired by the bioluminescence of honey fungus mycelium, the logo on this year's Fungus Fair T-shirt will also glow in the dark! If you use the 2026 Santa Cruz Fungus Fair logo in publications, please include these credits near the image: Artist: Viel Xander Olaguera © Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz Logo You are welcome to include the FFSC logo in news articles, and visit the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History's website for their logo. Example of FFSC Logo Downloads FFSC logo, with full name FFSC-logo-full-transparent_2x .png Download PNG • 845KB FFSC logo, acronym only ffsc-logo-circle-only-transp .png Download PNG • 330KB FFSC logo SVG (small) .svg Download SVG • 201KB 2026 Fungus Fair Poster and Postcard Vector Images (PDF) If you use the poster or postcard images, please include these credits near the image: Logo Artist: Viel Xander Olaguera Poster Layout : Lynn Piquett © Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz 2026 Fair Postcard and Poster .pdf Download PDF • 2.12MB Past Fungus Fair Photos for Publication 301 Center St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA Feel free to download and use any of the images on this page for your articles in conjunction with the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair. We ask that you please credit the photographers. Thanks! Past Fungus Fair Posters Check out some of our past Santa Cruz Fungus Fair poster artwork too! Fungus Fair Poster Archive History of the Fungus Fair The Fungus Fair originated in 1974 at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, led by the efforts of David Arora, who went on to write “ All That the Rain Promises and More ” and “ Mushrooms Demystified ”, which is widely considered to be one of the best and most comprehensive mushroom guidebooks available. As the Fungus Fair grew, it found new homes throughout the county, including Harvey West Park and London Nelson Community Center. During the pandemic years of 2021-2023, the Fair took on new forms, as the Virtual and Outdoor Fair with a full week of live video lectures plus two weekends of small group, expert guided forays, and the Mini Fungus Fair held at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. In January of 2024 the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz partnered again with the Santa Cruz Natural History Museum to bring the Fungus Fair triumphantly back to the London Nelson Community Center, celebrating the 50th anniversary with our largest event ever. The 2026 Santa Cruz Fungus Fair will be the 39th Fungus Fair organized by the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz. Visit the FFSC History page for more about the origins of the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair. The Great Hall, at the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair Press Releases and News 2026 Fair Press Release and Contacts 2026 Fungus Fair_Press Release .pdf Download PDF • 495KB Santa Cruz Fungus Fair in the News On the FFSC Website Fungus Fair News Past News about the Fungus Fair Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz hosts 51st Fungi Fair, KAZU Santa Cruz Fungus Fair returns to the London Nelson Center , Santa Cruz Sentinel The 50th Anniversary Fungus Fair brings mushroom mania to Santa Cruz , KAZU Santa Cruz Fungus Fair celebrates 50 years , KSBW Action News 8 Tom Karwin, On Gardening | Fungus Fair makes its return , Santa Cruz Sentinel Fungus are Among Us , Palo Alto Online Not a Mushroom at the Fungus Fair , City on a Hill Press 46th annual Santa Cruz Fungus Fair , KSBW Get to know your mushrooms at Santa Cruz's Fungus Fair , SFGate Santa Cruz Fungus Fair: Mushroom Fun , SFGate A Fungus Fair Fancy , Sunset Magazine Past Fungus Fair Videos Visit the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz YouTube channel (@ffscmedia) for more videos.

Come to the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair to learn fascinating and fun facts about beautiful and diverse species of mushrooms! View remarkable mushroom arts and crafts, taste unusual and exceptionally good fungal fare, and experience FFSC's overriding mission: "We keep the fun in fungus!" Fungus Fair Santa Cruz Santa Cruz Fungus Fair General Information 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 fascinating and fun facts about beautiful and diverse species of mushrooms! View remarkable mushroom arts and crafts, taste unusual and exceptionally good fungal fare, and experience FFSC's overriding mission : "We keep the fun in fun gus!" This unique Santa Cruz area tradition draws thousands of visitors each year. A Forest of Fungi One of the highlights of the fair is the Great Hall, where visitors explore the shapes and scents of wild mushrooms in a recreated woodland habitat. Fair volunteers collect hundreds of species of local fungi in the days leading up to the Fair, and carefully identify and label each one. Science advisors and experienced FFSC members are available to answer questions about the mushroom exhibits throughout the event, and to identify any wild mushrooms you’ve found yourself. Found a mushroom but can't bring it with you? Visit our Photography for ID Purposes page for tips on taking photos that will help us answer your "what is this?" question. Expert Speakers Nationally and locally renowned speakers present talks on a wide variety of topics each year. Sessions sometimes also include short hands-on workshops. Many talks are FREE with your purchase of a Fair Admission ticket, and you can also purchase tickets to larger sessions (Room 3 headliner talks) for a modest additional fee. Check out the schedule of speakers for the 2026 Santa Cruz Fungus Fair. Make, Eat, and Shop Create fun mushroom art, sample gourmet foods made with mushrooms, and take home beautiful mushroom-themed crafts, books, and more. Create your own mushroom art at the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair! Try dyeing fabric swatches, get your face painted and more. Fun for all ages! Make Fungi Art Tasty food, beautiful artwork, mushroom-dyed silks, jewelry and more can be found throughout the venue. Vendor Areas Presented By The Santa Cruz Fungus Fair is organized by the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz The Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz 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! See our mission page and member benefits for more information about FFSC. Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization governed by a board of directors. It was the first museum in Santa Cruz, dating back to 1905 with the founding collection of Santa Cruz lighthouse keeper and naturalist, Laura Hecox. The museum has been connecting people to the wonders of nature for over 100 years. The museum served as one of the original locations of the annual Santa Cruz Fungus Fair. See the museum's About page for more information about its mission.

News & Stories / Writings Stories from the April 1, 2010 Issue of Duff Jim Maley found this awesome Craterellus Cubano on a recent foray to Havana... Rick & Ella Schwartzi • April 2, 2010 Jim Maley with a Craterellus Cubano Scientists Discover No Two Mushrooms Alike In a development that has thrown mushroom identification into a virtual tizzy, professional mycologists have discovered through a multilocus phylogenetic overview that the clades they’ve been accepting as fact are quite suspect. “We found that we were using such a small section of the DNA, we missed a lot of stuff ”, says Dr. Harry Lincough. An overview of the phylogeny of a six-gene region supermatrix reveals that two mushrooms growing side by side can look quite different. Bayesian analyses of 5611 nucleotide characters of ribosomal RNA genes recovered six major clades, which are all recognized informally and labeled as Cantharellus cascadensis . “Sometimes it’s chrome yellow; sometimes it’s lemon yellow,” says mushroom expert I. Buyzalot. “ Cantharellus cascadensis is genetically very similar to Cantharellus subalbidus . When Cantharellus cascadensis is completely covered with duff, it is all white. Who can tell them apart, really, when acidification is a possible cause of fading?” adds Buyzalot. This debate will go on for some time, experts in the field have boldly predicted. “We don’t know for sure if they’re hybridizing or cross-breeding, but we can’t tell one from another,” says Dr. Lincough. “There is no happy ending.” Next month : Care and breeding of Cornish game hens. Fungus Federation Opens New Office Thanks to a generous grant from the FourOne Foundation, FFSC has opened an office in the Costco Santa Cruz. “We’re here every day anyway, buying supplies for some club event, so why not just make it an official place for Fungus Federators to come visit while we’re shopping,” says Debbie Johnson. Dried wild mushrooms, $10 per bag, benefits the FFSC In addition to a great way to recruit new members, the FFSC office has other benefits. “We can sell mushrooms that people collect on commission, and 10% of sales benefit the club treasury,” says Minister of Stores Toni Gillespie. “We’ve even started a line of dried mushrooms, which is quite popular.” According to CEO Bob Sellers, staffing is no problem since there’s almost always an FFSC member in Costco. “The new office has been very successful,” says Sellers. “Come see us soon.” Get Certified in Mushroom ID Groceries and farmers markets all over California are gearing up for a new program to have staff-certified mushroom identifiers on site beginning in 2011. No more messy poisonings: trained identifiers will be available to give a thumbs up or finger down the throat for novice mushroom collectors everywhere. Learn the difference between “Edibles,” the “Lose your lunch bunch” and “Call 911 NOW” types of fungi. Promotional ad for this venerable program Looflirpa College is offering Master Identifier certificate classes starting in June. Their knowledgeable, high-powered instructors, Dr. Henry Gnuoy and Dr. Philip Retneprac, have years of experience in this exacting yet profitable field. To take advantage of this exciting opportunity, sign up today and get a jump start on your next career! No prior training required. Looflirpa College is an equal opportunity institution. We’re an accredited university offering on-campus and online college degree programs. Visit us at www.looflirpa.edu. New Species from Lockheed Fire Area These pics just in from the Lockheed Fire Area. This new species is being named Californicus gigantorel . Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Stories from the April 1, 2011 Issue of Duff Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Take a Closer Look at your Black Trumpets Phil Carpenter brought me a bag of Craterellus calicornucopioides the other day. He’s a really nice, thoughful guy, isn’t he? Deb • March 2, 2010 Craterellus calicornucopioides. © Alan Rockefeller (from mushroomobserver.org) But that’s not all. He placed a lovely little bouquet of Craterellus atrocinereus on top. They’re similar, but not identical. The C. atrocinereus have a veiny underside, like our Golden Chanterelles, whereas the C. calicornucopioides have a smoother hymenium. Check it out in these pictures and keep an eye open for them in the woods. I’ve found them occasionally in the past, and they always get lost in my basket with the dominant species. My comparison: they taste basically the same, but the C. atrocinereus have a slightly softer and more luscious texture. See what you think. Bon appétit! Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Field Reports Account of Todd Spanier's 15th Annual Winter Chef's Foray Hugh and Sandi Smith were the proud FFSC Fungus Fair Raffle winners for the 15th Annual Winter Chef ’s Foray led by Todd Spanier of King of Mushrooms. Hugh provided the following vignette of their weekend. Hugh Smith • April 2, 2010 Coastal Redwood. Photo by Hugh Smith Wow, was that the 15th Annual Winter Chef ’s Foray? I can’t imagine what the other 14 were like! This was the first one I attended though, so I wish I hadn’t missed the others. I hadn’t heard of it before, but Todd Spanier puts on this annual event ... every year. Three Januarys ago, Sandi and I entered the raffle at the FFSC 34th Fungus Fair. Todd had been more than generous to offer such a weekend of Hunting, Wining and Dining in the Anderson Valley. Pretty generous, Todd. All of us (you and me) are very busy of course, and Sandi and I weren’t able to collect on our prize until now. It was certainly worth the wait. We arrived at the Screaming Lizard Ranch (a private property) to meet up with everyone at the house where we would be staying. Sandi and I took the cabin away from the main house. There are Redwood, Oak, Fir, Pine, and many other types of trees on the 40 acres. Our bathroom was inside, but our shower was outside. Imagine me, in my outside shower, with hot running water, in the woods, naked ... OK, don’t. Hungry? We picked greens from the back yard for our salad. But the first thing I did when we arrived was to get out of the car and start the hunt. There is always something to find at this time of year. Lots of things! Exciting things! Gyromitra esculenta , Ganoderma applanatum , Craterellus cinereus , Phlogiotus helvelloides , Helvella compressa , and far too many other mushrooms to name here. Y’know, really great stuff. There were also Cantharellus californicus , Craterellus cornucopioides , Spring Coccora , Hydnum umbilicatum ... the usual. We went to the Yorkville Winery, Todd showed us a place where Oak Trees have been inoculated and French truffles are being propagated, and there’s a grove of virgin Coastal Redwoods (Hendy Woods). But the real treat came Saturday night. After a day of hunting, wine tasting, sack lunches and sunshine, we picked some more of our salad in the yard, had a campfire, and had some of the most awesome dishes created for us that I have ever tasted. Although Todd is a great chef in his own right (he was the head chef Friday night), he invited a man named Marc Vogel for Saturday night. Marc, I had no idea mushrooms could taste that good. I don’t really like mushrooms, y’know. I’d usually rather trade them for Chicken. It’s about the hunt, y’know? The discovery! But with cooking like that, I’m rethinking if I know what I have talked myself into, or out of. Could mushrooms really taste this great? That was a terrific weekend, Todd. Thank you very much! Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Mushroom Soup Tip – Fried Dried Mushrooms Here is an idea that I recently came up with based on something I got from the Italian American Heritage Foundation of San Jose during a recent talk. Jim Maley • November 1, 2010 Craterellus tubaeformis. © Alan Rockefeller (from mushroomobserver.org) The Italians fry dried peppers in olive oil and garnish with kosher or sea salt. I have done this with fresh peppers, but never dried. Anyway, I experimented with throwing dried mushrooms in the mix and it worked great! Recently I served Chanterelle Soup from a recent trip to Oregon and garnished with fried dry mushrooms (instead of croutons). I tried dried Craterellus and Winter Chanterelles (Yellowfoot) and both worked very well. Since the mushrooms were not reconstituted in water, there was a little grit from the horns, so I have decided that dried Winter Chanterelles are best for this as they are a bit cleaner. Just a few minutes in the hot olive oil until they puff up a bit is enough. Any way, try putting a little crunch in your soup with this idea. I certainly will do this again and have a large amount of dried Yellowfoot and expect to get more in January. Enjoy! --Jim Maley Note: Visit our Recipes page for more ideas! Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / New Illustrator in the FFSC Fold – Angela Mele You’ll find a number of beautifully rendered illustrations in the Duff. They’re the work of Angela Mele, evidence of her love for all things fungal. Get acquainted with her below. Melanie Leuca • May 1, 2010 Identifying Agrocybe praecox. Illustration by Angela Mele After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Florida State University, I wasn’t sure what to do next. That’s when I found mushrooms — chanterelles, to be exact! In the summer they covered the hills in the woods near my house. As I flipped through pages of beautiful illustrations in my mom’s 1987 Peterson Field Guide to Mushrooms, I not only determined that I was sitting on a pile of gold, I also fell in love with fungi and realized I wanted to paint them for a living. With no fungus club in Tallahassee I had only banana spiders to contend with as I filled basket upon basket with beautiful orange mushrooms. Two years later, I’m finishing up a degree in Science Illustration at CSU Monterey Bay. In the program we learn how to create informative, accurate, and beautiful illustrations. My dream is to work with mycologists to create a field guide to mushrooms. Illustrations by me and my classmates can be seen in the exhibit Illustrating Nature at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History until June 5, 2010. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Cam Cam by Taylor Lockwood Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Stewardship Message From Our Incoming CEO 2009 If you had told me back in 1984 that I would be making this salutation 25 years later, I would never have even considered the possibility... Bob Sellers • September 2, 2009 Bob Sellers But here we are, starting our next 25-year run, a prosperous and vibrant organization, with an incredible group of talented and dedicated members, some of whom have been with the group since it began; others who have joined the voyage only recently. As one of the original handful of "midwives" who helped give birth to the organization, I have occupied nearly every minister position in the FFSC over the years except for CEO. It seems appropriate that 25 years later, I volunteer for that role. This year's programs and events will follow our tradition of monthly meetings, local forays, long distance forays, and special culinary events. We also have changes in the works, including a new format for our mushroom ID class, led this season by Phil Carpenter. Details are included in this newsletter. We may also implement collecting trips before some of the classes. One of our premier events is the annual Fungus Fair in January, held in downtown Santa Cruz. We have co-produced the Fungus Fair with the City of Santa Cruz and the employees of the Museum of Natural History and the Museum Association for many years of the Fair’s history. The picture changed this year when the City’s budget crisis resulted in elimination of the paid Museum staff. In spite of these changes, we are now planning for the 2010 Fungus Fair in cooperation with the Natural History Museum Association. Your help in volunteering for the fair is more crucial than ever. The proceeds from sales at the Fungus Fair represent a substantial percentage of our yearly revenues, allowing the club to pay for such things as speakers and snacks at our meetings, equipment purchases, library additions and educational stipends to students studying mycology. Because the Fungus Fair is such a popular event, our publicity whiz member, Jim Maley, worked with a local California publication to write a piece about the Fungus Fair and FFSC. Look for the article in an upcoming issue of Sunset Magazine! Here's to a wet and wonderful mushroom season, everyone. Bob Sellers, CEO Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Fungus Fair Raffle sends FFSC Member to Todd Spanier Weekend One of the highlights of the Fungus Fair is our Raffle with many awesome items raffled off during the two day event. Rene Barone • February 1, 2011 Our new poster series, a cooperative effort by Erin Page Blanchard, Christian Schwarz, Noah Siegel, and Marje Young. Photo by Hugh Smith This years raffle included many generous donors (listed below). The Grand Prize was a trip to Todd Spanier’s Anderson Valley Culinary Weekend – won this year by FFSC Member Austin Stowell. A special thank-you also to Monterey Mushrooms for their generous donation of mushrooms utilized during the cooking demonstrations. Raffle Donors Carpenter’s Custom Cutlery FUNGI Magazine Gelato Massimo India Joze JustMushroomStuff.Com King of Mushrooms La Posta Restaurant Light Energy Glass Lucy Martin Art Angela Mele Ma Maison Restaurant Fred Molnar Shea Moss Monterey Mushrooms Jeannine Niehaus Oswald Restaurant Brian & Ruth Salisbury Nate & Erika Seagraves Gale Lee Still The True Olive Connection Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Mycology & Art News FFSC Scholarship Awarded to Christian Schwarz For all of you who took part in our very successful 2011 Fungus Fair—this is what we do it for! FFSC has awarded a scholarship to Christian Schwarz in support of his pending work on the UCSC Fungal Herbarium Sub-curator and Mass Sequencing Initiative. Marje Young • March 2, 2011 Christian Schwarz Christian is becoming well known and well respected for his mycological knowledge. The project will benefit us locally and members of the Fungus Federation will have access to the herbarium research collection. This is indeed a worthwhile project that we are delighted to be able to fund. Over the past few years, Christian has contributed over 400 micro fungal items to the herbarium collection at UC Santa Cruz. He will be working with the entire fungal collection (approximately 700 items) to move it into proper herbarium boxes; scan and digitize academic collection notes; create database of the text descriptions, with reference to the herbarium specimens; establish and develop a website for collection descriptions, photographs and academic notes (with international access); partner with the UCSC Gilbert Lab and UC Berkeley to obtain DNA sequencing of the collection; and complete an interactive polychotomous key to macro fungi. The herbarium, including its online presence, will be of significant value to the local scientific, taxonomic, and enthusiast communities, as well as state and international researchers. !is will be especially true given that a large proportion of the collections will come accompanied with DNA sequence data. Marje Young and Phil Carpenter Scholarship Committee Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts FFSC Scholarship Awarded to Alison McGregor Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Field Reports NAMA Foray Kudos The North American Mycolocigal Association foray held in Scotts Valley in December was a resounding success. Wendy Wells • January 1, 2013 Photo by Hugh Smith The Mission Springs facility worked out wonderfully. The event was sponsored by NAMA under the aegis of ace Santa Cruz organizers Noah Seigel and Christian Schwarz. Their abundant energy, organizational skills and good cheer made for an educational and memorable foray. Thanks also to lead foray mycologist Else Vellinga and the many organizers and presenters who helped make it all possible! The recent rains produced bountiful collections that kept the ID and vouchering process busy all weekend. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Echo Summit 2012 Foray Report Conditions were on the dry side, but we found mushrooms nonetheless! And, of course, had a great time. Bill White • October 2, 2012 Photo by Hugh Smith Thanks to Dawn Engel, Marje Young and the kitchen wizards for planning and cooking such delicious meals, all the volunteers who helped with food prep and lodge cleanup, Phyllis Cole for handling registration, Cassandra Fuentes for tracking species for the foray, and to Hugh Smith for documenting all the fun! Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts 2013 Echo Summit Foray Recap Echo Summit 2015 Foray Report Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article