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.
The 2023 mushroom season begins!
Events that have already happened are pinked out. We’ll leave them in the list, however, in case you want to query sites about 2024 plans.
Three BC-based speakers, including Andy MacKinnon, are featured at the Great Alberta Mushroom Foray at Wateron Lakes National Park, Alberta, September 1-4, 2023.
Strathcona Wilderness Institute Mycology Workshop, September 16-17, 2023.
The Cumberland Community Forest Society hosts the Cumberland Fungus Fest on September 28-30, 2023. Andy will be a speaker and walk leader.
The Courtenay and District Museum will be displaying the BC Museum traveling exhibit on BC’s Marvelous Mushrooms in October and November.
The Raincoast Education Society offers the course Mushrooms of the West Coast in Ucluelet from October 6-8, 2023. Andy MacKinnon and Shannon Berch will be course facilitors.
Saturday, October 7, 2023. Kem will be leading a mushroom identification course for the BUGS, the Biology Undergraduate Society. More details when available.
The South Vancouver Island Mycological Society (SVIMS) will be sponsoring several speaker events and members-only forays in the fall of 2023. Watch for announcements on the SVIMS web site.
The annual Whistler Fungus Among Us festival happens on October 13-15, 2023. More details when they are posted.
October 16, 2023, 10 am. Andy and Kem will be leading a walk for the Wildwood EcoForest. More details when they are published.
On October 17 (lecture) and 18 (field/lab day), 2023, Kem and Andy are offering a hands-on mushroom workshop, Mushrooms of Greater Victoria through University of Victoria Continuing Studies.
The half-week from Wednesday, October 18-22, 2023, will be a mushroom extravaganza in Greater Victoria. It opens with three by-invitation screenings on the new IMAX film, Fungi: The Web of Life on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings. The film opens to the public on the weekend. In addition, Andy will be doing the BC Museum Live at Lunch program on Wednesday at noon. On Saturday morning, the Metchosin MycoBlitz happens. At the blitz, participants will be collecting mushrooms for the annual SVIMS mushroom show, which happens at the BC Museum this year (Sunday, 10-4). The BC Museum is also doing a mushroom walk in Beacon Hill Park, led by Andy, on Saturday, 1:30-3:30 pm. For the slate of events this week, see the RBCM Fungi Fest page.
The IMAX film, , Fungi: The Web of Life is now playing at the Royal BC Museum. Not to be missed!
The Mid-Island Mushroom Festival at Coombs is popular. This year it is on Sunday, October 22, 2023.
On October 24 (lecture) and 25 (field/lab day), 2023, Kem and Andy are offering a hands-on mushroom workshop, Mushrooms of Greater Victoria through University of Victoria Continuing Studies.
The Art Gallery of Ontario’s show Symbiosis, about mushroom form and function, continues until October 29, 2023. On Thursday, October 26, the Gallery will be hosting a Metchosin walk with author and displayer Diane Borsato. More on this when details are published.
The SVIMS annual Cowichan Foray happens on October 27-29 at the Cowichan Lake Education Centre. Andy and Kem and others will be leading walks and helping with the IDs. More details as they are available.
Monday, October 30, 2023, 7:00 pm: Talk at East Sooke Community Hall by Andy and Kem for the Seagirt Ponds Preservation Society.
Wednesday-Thursday, November 1-2, 2023. Andy and Paul Stamets and Paul Kroeger lead forays on Cortes Island for the Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island.
Saturday, November 4, 2023, 10 am, The Land Conservancy of BC is hosting a mushroom walk led by Andy and Kem. At Second Lake in the Highlands. More details when they are published.
On November 4 (lecture at 2 pm) and 5 (field/lab day), 2023, Kem and Andy are offering a hands-on mushroom workshop, Mushrooms of Greater Victoria through University of Victoria Continuing Studies.
Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary is hosting Wild Mushrooms, a mushroom talk and walk, on Saturday-Sunday, November 11-12, 2023, led by Kem and Andy.
Kem did an interview with the Shaw/Rogers Coastal Connections program. Playing on cable for the first two weeks of December. It can be viewed on YouTube.
On Saturday, December 2, Andy is doing a presentation at the Powell River Public Library. Report in Peak Magazine.