Join Us for some Family Fun!
3 Events – 1 Date – 1 Location

Last year’s very first Family Fungi Fest

This year, instead of holding our annual summer picnic on a Monday meeting night, we reserved Thomas Lake Park in Eagan for the full day on Saturday July 13 to bring you three different events. This will replace what would have been our Monday, July 8th evening Zoom meeting. All of these events are free and for members only. Registration opened on Saturday, June 15 – members received an email on that day with instructions on how to register.  You must register to attend these events.

Not an MMS member? Become a member of the Minnesota Mycological Society and enjoy these events along with many other family-friendly foraging activities throughout the year!

9:30 am – Noon: Kick off the day with the “Family Fungi Fest!” (Limited to 150 participants)

Back for the 2nd year with even more kid focused and family friendly activities, the “Family Fungi Fest” will include a nature scavenger hunt, a mushroom identification table, reading of various mushroom books, mushroom bingo, mushroom tattoos, painting wooden mushrooms and other mushroom art!

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Learn Oyster Mushroom Cultivation in a Hands On Workshop with Randy Strobel (THIS EVENT IS FULL)

In this hands-on workshop you will learn two methods of growing oyster mushrooms. We will use a spore-less cultivar of Pleurotus ostreatus that is possibly the easiest mushroom to cultivate at home. You will make and take home a one-gallon bucket of inoculated substrate that will start producing mushrooms in about three weeks. You will also inoculate and take home a toilet paper roll that will also fruit mushrooms in a few weeks. Grain spawn that you can use to continue growing projects at home will be provided as will all the supplies needed for the workshop.

4:30 pm – 9:00 pm: Eat and Socialize with other members at the MMS Picnic (Limited to 150 participants)

This event is a chance to meet socially with other members of the Society. MMS will provide picnic fare: hot dogs (meat and vegetarian options), condiments and beverages; please bring your own water bottle or reusable cup. If you like, bring something to share (chips, salads, fruit, dessert) but no wild foraged mushroom dishes are allowed at this event. Also, no alcoholic beverages are allowed in the park. This event will also have a mushroom ID component; participants are welcome to forage on the park grounds or bring a few personal mushroom specimens they have found for ID assistance, but anything brought in must NOT be left at the park.

Location/ Directions:

Thomas Lake Park pavilion in Eagan is just off Pilot Knob Road. The park entrance is halfway between Cliff and Diffley roads, so either exit off of 35 E will work. We have reserved the pavilion behind the main parking lot.  Link to Google Map of location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/DjTVJckhsVyCNxu19