FAQs

What is the overall plan for the weekend?

The weekend is yours to fill with learning activities and workshops to enhance your fungi experience. Instructors and presenters for the festival come with a wide range of knowledge and experience gathered from years of collecting and identifying mushrooms of western North America.

How it all works

Look at the schedule of events. You will see a variety of workshops, forays and a full day early bird foray. Pick what suits your fancy and learning desires and purchase tickets for specific activities on the tickets page.

Space is limited on workshops and forays to maximize the learning experience so don’t delay and be prepared to select an alternate as spaces fill up.

Should you desire, the weekend could begin on Friday September 26 with an “early Bird Foray” of the interior cedar rain forest. The foray is limited to 20 participants and will be a full day foray in the area of the Ancient Forest or West Twin west of McBride. We will be meeting at 9:30 at West Twin Provincial Park. Bring your lunch and be prepared for a day in the field.

Participants will then proceed to the Dunster School where they will join other participants for registration.
Registration will be followed by an introductory presentation on “mushroom body parts”and “identification” and a short presentation by Steph St Laurent on his 12 favourite mushrooms of BC. There will be a meet and greet that evening and socialization around the fire.

On Saturday morning participants will meet the instructors and guides at the school, where there will be a group briefing on forest etiquette and safety, mushroom features, how to input data into iNaturalist and procedures. Workshop participants will go to their workshop and foray participants will car-pool to the first destination, where the group will explore the site searching for fungi, Sessions will be 3 hrs in length (9-12 and 1-4pm) and provide lots of hands-on identification and chances to learn from your instructors. Specimens will be brought back to the school.

Groups will return to the school for lunch break. You can fix your own or lunch is also provided by the Dunster School Society (tickets can be bought on the tickets page) (Saturday has the option of getting lunch at the Dunster Farmers Market The cycle will repeat in the afternoon.
At 4 pm Specimens collected will be brought back to the school where there will be more thorough discussion, identification and other groups can benefit from specimens collected ondifferent sites. There will also be a hands on workshop on growing mushrooms and building a “better mushroom bed” by Al Dawson.

On Saturday evening at 5pm there will be a gala mushroom dinner brought to you by Chefs Sylvia Morrison and Teresa deReis (tickets must be bought on the tickets page) Followed by a presentation on the fascinating world of fungi.

Festivities and socializing will continue in the school and around the fire.

Sunday morning people will once again go on the specific forays or workshops they have signed up for and return to the school for lunch and then attend the afternoon sessions followed by an identification and show and tell session to conclude the weekend

What should I bring?

Bring typical gear for spending a day in the woods:

Collection basket or bag
Water
Snacks/lunch
Good footwear
Warm clothes
Rain gear

If you are a cell phone user, we recommend you download the iNaturalist app, as we will be using this app throughout the festival to document and catalogue the various species found during our forays. (We will provide a short instruction on using this app at the start of our forays).

Where can I stay?

There are no hotels in Dunster, BUT...

Camping space for tents and RVs is available at the school. There is no power or septic available for trailers, but there is access to washrooms and shower at the school, and there will also be porta-potty outhouses available.

Cost for camping is $10/night per tent/RV.

There are additional accommodation available at B&B’s in the area, as well as hotels in the neighboring communities of McBride, Tete Jaune, and Valemount.

What can I eat?

On Saturday evening, we will be hosting a delicious mushroom-themed gala dinner provided by Silvia Morrison and Teresa DeReis.

Tickets are $25.00 and must be purchased in advance on our Tickets Page.

Outside of that, there is a small general store in Dunster but no restaurants, so you are responsible for your own provisions. That being said….

The Dunster School Society has offered to provide lunches at the school which can be purchased for $15.00. They will also be preparing a soup/chili and sandwich lunch for folks on the workshops for a cost of $15.00. **These options are available for purchase on the Tickets page of this website.

What if the tickets are all sold out? Am I out of luck?

No. You can also come and hang out with us, check out the festival and chat about mushrooms. There will be

vendors and displays or attend the evening presentations you are welcome to come over! If you would just like to partake in the gala mushroom dinner, tickets will be available separately!

Oh, and email us to get yourself put on the wait list.

What is special about this festival and why should I come?

This is the most awesome mushroom festival held in the Robson Valley! This festival was created out of the recognition that many people have a fascination with mushrooms but only a select few (if any) that they feel confident to identify and eat., and so could benefit greatly from expanding their knowledge on local mushrooms.

Attending this festival is an opportunity to learn “hands on” from experts in the field of mycology by hanging out with and learning from "mushroom folks”. Learning about the diversity of mushrooms and fungi that are growing in our own "back yard” could go a long way to expanding your personal knowledge as well providing a sense of food security and resilience. It is also a form of emergency preparedness to learn which mushrooms are safe and not safe to eat "in a pinch". In addition, it will provide a greater awareness to residents of the natural bounty that surrounds us in the Dunster area and will encourage you to get out and explore in nature, which promote outdoor living and mental wellness!

We will be collecting on private and public land and have also obtained permits from BC Parks for Mount Robson, Jackman Flats, and the Ancient Forest. We will not only be learning about mushrooms as we collect, we will also be documenting and cataloguing our finds with the iNaturalist app. Information gathered during the Robson Valley Mushroom festival over the years will contribute to scientific knowledge and serve as baseline data for the area for years to come.

Specific or rare finds may even be sampled and DNA typed and submitted to the provincial data bank!