BC communities and organizations host many dozens of events over the course of a year, most of them in the autumn.
The majority of these events get listed, sooner or later, on the Fungi Events forum at the UBC Botanical Gardens site. Check this site regularly to find out where you can join others to learn about local mushrooms.
Also touch base with your local mushroom club or natural history club–these organizations often have informative presentations at their regular meetings. In Victoria, connect with SVIMS, the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society. In Vancouver, the place to meet up is VMS, the Vancouver Mycological Society.
We will list certain fungal events on these pages, especially those that involve the authors of Mushrooms of BC.
2024 was a banner year for mushrooms on Vancouver Island. What will 2025 bring?
As you can see below, 2024 was a busy year. The events are all past now and have been pinked out. We’ll leave them visible, though, in case you want to query sites about 2025 plans.
The South Vancouver Island Mycological Society (SVIMS) will be sponsoring several speaker events and members-only forays in the fall of 2024. Watch for announcements on the SVIMS web site. The talks are on the first Thursday of each month. Note also that there is a special SVIMS meeting on November 9, 2024, with Britt Bunyard. On Thursday, December 5, Andy and Kem will be giving a SVIMS talk on “Fairies and Fungi: A Festive Ecology of BC.”
Strathcona Wilderness Institute Mycology Workshop, September 20-24, 2024.
Bamfield Fungus Fest, September 26-28, 2024. Andy will be a speaker and walk leader.
On October 1, 2024, Andy and Kem are leading a mushroom walk hosted by Habitat Acquistion Trust (HAT) for their volunteers.
The Cumberland Community Forest Society hosts the Cumberland Fungus Fest on October 3-5, 2024. Andy will be a speaker and walk leader.
The Fort St. John North Peace Museum in Fort St. John will be displaying the BC Museum traveling exhibit on BC’s Marvelous Mushrooms in the summer, up to September 2, 2024. After this it will be at the Kitimat Museum and Archives in Kitimat (September 5 through November 25).
Kem is doing a mushroom workshop on October 6, 2024, for the Biology Undergraduate Society (BUGS) at the University of Victoria.
The Raincoast Education Society offers the course Mushrooms of the West Coast in Ucluelet from October 11-13, 2024. Andy MacKinnon and Kem Luther will be course facilitors.
The annual Whistler Fungus Among Us festival happens on October 18-20, 2024.
The Fall Continental Mycoblitz runs from October 18 to 17, 2024. Everyone is invited to grab their cameras or smartphones or tablets and make iNaturalist or MushroomObserver records of mushrooms. These can be vouchered and sent in for sequencing.
October 15, 2024, 10 am. Andy and Kem will be leading a walk for the Wildwood EcoForest. More details when they are published.
On October 23 (lecture) and 24 (field/lab day), 2024, Kem and Andy are offering a hands-on mushroom workshop, Mushrooms of Greater Victoria through University of Victoria Continuing Studies.
On the evening of Thursday, October 24, 2024, Kem and Andy will be doing an online presentation for the Kitimat Museum and Archives.
The half-week from Wednesday, October 16-20, 2024, will be a mushroom extravaganza in Greater Victoria. The IMAX Theatre at the Royal BC Museum will be screening mushroom films, including Fantastic Fungi on Wednesday (7:30 pm) and Sunday (5 pm). Kem will be doing the Royal BC Museum Live at Lunch program on Wednesday at noon. The annual SVIMS mushroom show will be at the Royal BC Museum on Sunday, 10 am-4 pm. (See poster.) The BC Museum is also doing a mushroom walk at Francis-King CRD Park, led by Kem, on Saturday, 9:30-11 am.
The SVIMS annual Cowichan Foray happens on October 25-27 at the Cowichan Lake Education Centre. Andy and Kem and others will be leading walks and helping with the IDs. Details available on the SVIMS web site when they are posted.
The Metchosin Talk and Walk series features a mushroom talk on Friday night, November 1, 2024, and a mushroom walk the next morning, Saturday, November 2.
On November 2 (lecture at 2 pm) and 3 (field/lab day), 2023, Kem and Andy are offering a hands-on mushroom workshop, Mushrooms of Greater Victoria through University of Victoria Continuing Studies.
Saturday, November 9, 2024, 10 am, The Land Conservancy of BC is hosting a mushroom walk led by Andy and Kem. At Millstream Creek Watershed.