The population of McCloud almost doubled over the weekend of May 24th and 25th as over 12,000 people came from as far as New Mexico to attend the 21st Annual Mushroom, Wine, Music, and Artisan Festival.
There were 16 different workshops and guided tours held hourly over the weekend by expert mycologists covering many aspects of the world of mushrooms and fungi, including introduction to the world of mushrooms, photography of mushrooms, DNA sequencing, cloning, cultivation of wild species, identifying and hunting for local fungi, along with mushroom arts and crafts. Presenters ranged from world-renowned mycologist Noah Siegel, who has written books on mycology, to Allan Rockefeller from El Cerrito, who has been coming up annually since 2007 to give presentations. Other experts included Andrew Classsen, who has identified 132 different species of mushrooms in Siskiyou County over the past five years; local mycologist Chris Farley; Angelic Garza; William Padilla Brown; Rhea Alexander; David Gardner; Dylan Goldfine-Middleton; and comedian Dillion Delucca, who introduced the speakers and brought people to laughter throughout the two-day festival.
