Mushrooms will be everywhere, from start to finish, in the Fungus Feast – one of the most anticipated activities at Cordova’s annual Fungus Festival from Sept. 19-21.
This year’s menu begins with a charcuterie board of wild caught Copper River coho spruce tip lox, wild porcini spread, sourdough bread, and truffle butter.
The soup du jour for the first course is porcini consommé, followed by a second course of Alaska-grown carrot and cabbage salad with pickled mushrooms.
Lingonberry-lacquered coho salmon with Alaska barley and mushroom couscous make up the third course. Dessert will be Sarah’s wild chanterelle ice cream plus shortbread cookies.
Live entertainment for the feast will include a silent auction, available only to Fungus Feast attendees, which features a selection of unique and high-value local items.
As the primary fundraiser for the festival, the Fungus Feast helps ensure that this event continues to thrive for years to come, said Cathy Renfeldt, executive director of the Cordova Chamber of Commerce.
There are only 90 seats for this event. Tickets are selling for $65, but festival-registered folks get tickets for $60. To get the $5 discount on tickets, register for the festival first either online or at the Chamber office.
Tickets are available online at cordovafungusfest.com.
The festival actually kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 18, with an interactive scavenger hunt at the Crater Lake Trailhead designed by the Prince William Sound Science Center. Participants are encouraged to grab a scavenger hunt sheet out of the box below the Crater Lake Trail sign and head out to find some fungus.
Later in the day there will be a children’s mushroom foray, again at the Crater Lake Trailhead, followed by mushroom painting at the Prince William Sound Science Center.
On Friday, Sept. 19, there will be a special fungus-themed Discover Cordova event at Nirvana Park, featuring fungus dissection, arts and crafts, a mushroom hunt and button making. Attendees can also stop by the all-day artisan market that afternoon at the Cordova Center.
Mushroom hunter Kate Mohatt will deliver the keynote presentation early Friday evening at the Cordova Center.
There are also art and informational classes scheduled throughout the weekend.
Mushroom 101 is scheduled for the morning of Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Cordova Center. Participants will learn more about mushroom identification in this class, which will be taught by Cordova’s own Madison Seigler.
The Net Loft will hold another class, entitled needle felted & stitched fall scene.
Also on Saturday, there will also be a morning mushroom foray starting at the Cordova Center. Transportation is not provided and carpooling is encouraged.
Also on the day’s agenda is the second day of the Artisan Market, a mushroom carving stamp workshop at the Net Loft, and an afternoon fungus foray.
The Wild Harvest Fungus Feast is set to begin at 6 p.m. that evening at the Pioneer Igloo.
An early bird Net Loft mushroom terrarium workshop is scheduled at 7 a.m. on the final day of the festival, Sunday, Sept. 21, followed by a session of Mushroom ID Table Talk at the Cordova Center. Everyone is invited to participate with their nature journals, foraging baskets and stories about their weekend adventures.
A final fungus foray is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on that morning, again with carpooling encouraged.
Wrap up the day with a needle felted scene workshop at the Net Loft from noon to 4 p.m. and a yoga session at the Prince William Sound Science Center. Everyone is asked to arrive five minutes early and bring a yoga mat.
Log on to www.cordovafungusfest.com for the full schedule of events.
