Up to anything this weekend? You really ought to be heading to Fungi Town, normally known as Hay-on-Wye. We're super chuffed to have been given the opportunity to sponsor the mycological takeover of an entire town, so if you you wanna see history in the making, best get yourself there.

Fungi Town has been set up by Hay Castle Trust, and is a mostly free (some stuff’s got a charge but it’s not much) three-day set of events that’s running throughout the town, covering pretty much everything. Talks? Obviously. Films? Yeah! Interactive events? Yep. Awesome food offerings? That too. Smithy’s incredible reishi sculptures? You know they’re gonna be there! If you did want to go and watch the films and such you’ll need to prebook, but that can be done via the Fungi Town website!

Let’s break it down a bit and see what’s on:

FILMS:

From Chicken Shed to Mushroom Farm: ReFarm, Richard Booth Room, October 3rd/4th: 

Chef Derek Sarno (amazing bit of nominative determinism there) partnered up with The Little Mushroom Co and Smithy Mushrooms to convert an old chicken breeding farm into a mushroom farm. Guaranteed 100% less angry chicken ghosts, and 100% more lovely mushrooms. 

Fungi: Web of Life, Richard Booth’s Cinema, October 3rd: 

Björk narrates mycology’s bestest boy, Merlin Sheldrake, visiting the Tarkine rainforest in Tasmania to try and find a rare blue mushroom, and explore the connections between mushrooms and the rest of life on earth. Will he find it? He’s good at finding mushrooms so we’ll say yes. Haven’t watched it. Post was a cracking album by Björk though so we’ll probably give that a go.

Follow the Rain, Hay Castle Learning Space, October 4th:

Cool documentary from Stephen Axford and Catherine Marciniak, who follow the rain around in one of the wettest years ever in Australia to find amazing fungi that pop up, and explore the role that fungi plays in sustaining life on earth.

TALKS:

Spores and Stories: How did you get into this? Clore Learning Space, Oct 3rd:

An informal chat with people who are embedded in the mycology scene, exploring exactly what it was that led them to this fairly niche area of ecology.

Discover The Magic of Mushrooms, Hay Castle Learning Space, Oct 4th:

Ali McKernan, otherwise known as “The FUNgi Guy”, is a primary school teacher who is also big into educating people about mushrooms, and guess what he’s going to chat about? No, not Roblox. Mushrooms.

Fungus Among Us, Hay Castle, Oct 4th:

A chat hosted by Dr Peter Welham and Adam Davies about how scientists and designers are are working with fungi to try and solve a variety of issues. Mycelium is a rarely-understood thing in the regular world, but people are starting to become more and more aware of the potential uses of this magical material.

Why Fungi Matter, Hay Castle Learning Space, Oct 4th:

Professor Katie Field leads a talk on the history of fungi and the interconnections between flora, fauna, and funga throughout the development of our planet. Can we better utilise these interactions to improve things?

Mushrooms and Mental Health, The Old Electric Shop, Oct 4th:

Clinical psychiatrist Dr Ben Sessa and author Nina Lyon discuss the scientific mechanisms relating to the pharmacological use of mushrooms in treating complex issues such as PTSD, depression, and addiction. Yeah they’re probably talking about the fizzy ones.

Can I Eat It?, The Globe, Oct 5th:

Fun fact: you can eat anything once. However, Marlow Renton’s here to talk to you about the ones you can eat without dying or getting so ill you wish you were dead. There’s a whole host of mushrooms growing naturally that make for good eating, and a few that make for very touching wakes, so get along and get learning!

Cook on the Wild Side, The Globe, Oct 5th:

Marlow again, and this time he’s going to demo some mushroom recipes from The Wild Food UK Forager’s Cookbook. Hopefully the Fairy Ring and Hogweed Gnocchi, because hogweed doesn’t get enough appreciation over here.

Pickling and Preserving Workshop, The Globe, Oct 5th

Join Liz Knight (local author and forager) from Forage Fine Foods to learn how to preserve and pickle all the foods you want, even mushrooms (pickled mushrooms are amazing). You’ve all got kilner jars and suchlike at home if you’re been doing mycology for a while so you probably wouldn’t even need to invest much more into the kit if you did get into it!

Kombucha Workshop, Hay Castle Learning Space, Oct 5th

Yeast expert (man that’s a crazy job) and local author Simon Poffley from The Fermentarium is here to show you how to make a variety of yeast-based drinks - you can even create your own Kombucha!

EXHIBITIONS:

The Mesh, Hay Castle Gallery, Oct 3rd - Nov 14th:

Interactive artwork is the best artwork. Become part of the mycelial network with the movement of your body, and watch as the various nodes grow or weaken. Then when you leave, someone else gets to watch the connections that you’ve made break down to be recycled back into the firmament. Sounds awesome!

Smithy, Hay Castle Gallery, Oct 3rd-5th:

The man, the MycoMyth: Smithy creates the most insane sculptures using reishi mushrooms, coaxing them this way and that to create surreal forms that make everyone say “hang on, you grew that, and it’s actually a mushroom?”. Part man, part mad scientist, Smithy’s having fun blending art and mycology together in a way that you really have to see with your own eyes.

FOOD:

There is also a huge selection of food and drink options (too many to list!) involving mushrooms throughout the weekend, with places such as Hay Castle Cafe all the way up to the Michelin Green Star awarded Chapters Restaurant taking part. Cocktails, burgers, fancy dinners - you name it, Fungi Town’s got it.

CLOSING CEREMONY:

The Puff Ball, Market Square, Oct 5th

Finishing off events with the closing ceremony, the family-friendly Puff Ball Parade. Jazz/Pop/Ska/Funk band Wonderbrass will be leading us all from Market Square over to the Castle lawn, so wear your most mushroomy-looking gear, and enjoy the tunes as we celebrate the end of an amazing few days of mycelial connection!

Well, we’ve never heard of a whole town being converted into a mycology experience for a whole weekend, and it’s amazing to see the scene begin to progress more and more towards mainstream understanding. Exciting times, and MycoPunks are super proud to have been given the opportunity to sponsor this beast of an event!