The Secret Life of Mushrooms will be one of the films featured this year at Shroomfest in the Palm Theater! This film is an examination of the cultural impact to the modern worlds exposure of indigenous people’s psychedelic spiritual practices including interviews with anthropologist and author of ‘The Devil’s Book of Culture,’ Ben Feinberg, local curandera Ines Cortes Rodriguez, Mazatec ritual specialist Edward Abse, and a wide variety of local historians, musicians, and business owners, as journalist Dan Glass investigates the long term cultural effects that outsiders have had on the small mountain town in the last 50 years.

Paul Stamets has been a dedicated mycologist for over thirty years. Over this time, he has discovered and co-authored four new species of mushrooms, and pioneered countless techniques in the field of edible and medicinal mushroom cultivation. He received the 1998 “Bioneers Award” from The Collective Heritage Institute, and the 1999 “Founder of a New Northwest Award” from the Pacific Rim Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils.

In 2008, Paul received the National Geographic Adventure Magazine’s Green-Novator and the Argosy Foundation’s E-chievement Awards. He was also named one of Utne Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World” in their November–December 2008 issue. In February 2010, Paul received the President’s Award from the Society for Ecological Restoration: Northwest Chapter, in recognition of his contributions to Ecological Restoration.

He has written six books on mushroom cultivation, use and identification; his books Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms and The Mushroom Cultivator (co-author) have long been hailed as the definitive texts of mushroom cultivation. Other works by Paul Stamets include Psilocybe Mushrooms and Their Allies (out of print), Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World, MycoMedicinals®: an Informational Treatise on Mushrooms, and many articles and scholarly papers.

His newest book is Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World.

Just an FYI to anyone still on the fence about being a Vendor this year at Shroomfest. We will no longer be accepting vendors after friday.

The vendor tables will be 8ft long or to be more specific, they will be 30″ x 96″ rectangular plastic folding tables.

The tables will be spaced about 6 ft from the wall, providing ample space for storage of materials and with about 2 ft in between each table to allow for people to get in and out from behind them. One chair will be provided with each table. There are electrical outlets available at some of the tables (about half of them).

Table assignment will be based on a first come first served basis, so getting there early on thursday morning is reccomended if you’re looking for that “prime” spot. We do have more tables available if vendor is interested in booking two tables.