Mushroom Mania 2025
April 19, 2025 at Stone Brewing - Richmond. 4300 Williamsburg Ave. Richmond, Virginia
Free admission! Donations keep it going.
It is a celebration of the mysterious, magical, and mouthwatering marvel – MUSHROOMS! Join us for our eighth annual fungi fest to honor the creative influence, culinary delights, health benefits, and cultural significance of the mushroom kingdom. 40+ vendors, mushroom growers, speakers, food, craft beer, costume contest, dancing and more.
2025 Presenters & Schedule
We’re Richmond, Virginia’s first and only FREE fungi fest going eight years strong! We’ll be featuring free classes, workshops, lectures, screening cartoons, dancing, costume contest, music, giveaways and much more!
DONATE NOW
PAY WHAT YOU CAN!
SCHEDULE :
APRIL 19, 2025
12:00 - 6:00 PM - Richmond Moon Market - Check out over forty local vendors, mushrooms growers, fortune tellers, artists, plants, vintage wares, jewelry, home decor, art, ceramics, and more.
12:00 - Patio Tent - Class: Agar Plates with Folkish Farms
12:00 - Tap room - Screening Documentary: What We Discover Along the Way (Q&A with Director, Rose Vincelli Gustine)
1:00 - Park - Talk/Walk: Foraging Walk/Talk with Journei Bimwala and Lucretia Jones. Meet on the Patio.
2:00 - Patio Tent - Screening: Mush Mush and The Mushables
1:00 - Patio Tent - Class: Grow Bag Basics with Baltispore
1:00 - Tap room - Talk: Fluorescent Fungi with Blue Ridge Mycological Society
2:00 - Tap room - Talk: Mushrooms & Immunity with Tom Dadant of Host Defense
3:00 - Tap room - Talk: Growing Mushrooms at Home with East Coast Mushrooms
3:30 - Patio Tent - Dance: White Witch by Athanor Dance Collecive
4:00 - Patio Tent - Costume Contest
4:20 - Tap room - Panel Talk: The State of Psychoactive Plants and Fungi in the Commonwealth of Virginia Hosted by Decriminalize Nature Virginia with special guests.
5:00 - Patio Tent - Music - The Embalmers
ALL DAY:
Learn: Blue Ridge Mycological Society, San- J Tamari, Baltispore, Folkish Farms, East Coast Mushrooms, Host Defense and more will join us with classes and talks all day.
Snap: Photo Booth with the Richmond Faerie Federation.
Shop: Sponsors and Vendors at the Richmond Moon Market
Tasting: with Point 5 - Little Saints, Host Defense and more.
DIY: Make-and-take culinary project with experts from San-J Tamari
Drink: Stone Brewing offers craft beer, seltzer, frozen drinks, NA, sodas, and more
Eat: Live Buena Food Truck, Kay’s Kushbu and Pi’s Coffee
KEEP THE MANIA GOING!
DONATE WHAT YOU CAN!
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT MUSHROOM MANIA?
DIY Mushroom Shoyu-Koji with SanJ Tamari
All Day - Patio
Satoru Wada and experts from the San-J International tamari factory will guide how to make your own mushroom Shoyu-Koji. A unique japanese condiment made by fermenting koji, salt, tamari, and shiitake mushrooms. Get your's started with help from the experts from San-J and finish the ferment at home. Mushrooms provided by Rudy's Exotic Mushrooms.
FREE (while supplies last)
All Day - Second Floor Mezzanine
Try a tasty free sample of new and inventive mushroom products. Little Saints non-alcoholic cocktails and spirits boost your mood with no guilt or hangover. Experience a subtle euphoria without sugar or next-day consequenes.
Point 5 is Richmond’s premier non-alcoholic bottle shop. Located in Carytown they offer a range of mushroom-based adaptogentic and non-alcoholic spirits and beverages.
Tasting: Little Saints - St. Juniper with Point5
Grab a sample from Host Defense. Try an uplifting blend of organic Lion’s Mane and shade-grown, finely ground Japanese matcha. For a modern-day spin on an ancestral infusion, mix this smooth, vibrant tea blend with your favorite milk.
Tasting: Host Defense - Mushroom Matcha
2:00 - Tap Room
Tom Dadant has spent the last 53 years of his life immersed in the Natural Foods movement and the Dietary Supplement industry.
For the last 28 years, Tom has represented major supplement companies as a Science Educator and Herbal Storyteller. He joined Host Defense® education team in May of 2017 and began educating retailers and consumers nationwide on the benefits of mushrooms as dietary supplements. In 2019, Tom trained over 1,200 people in- person, traveling over 75,000 miles nationally, and presented live webinars to over 2,400 attendees!
Tom is a fifth-generation descendant of Charles Dadant, who was instrumental in developing the modern-day beehive box and who started the beekeeping supply business now known as Dadant & Sons in 1863. Tom is the grandson of MG Dadant.
His cousins and nephews continue to run the business in Hamilton, Illinois. Tom carries on the family beekeeping tradition by speaking to beekeepers nationwide about Host Defense's partnership with Washington State University's entomology department, and their groundbreaking research using mushrooms mycelium to combat Colony Collapse Disorder and the effects on Varroa mites in honeybees and Native Bees.*
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease
DONATIONS KEEP US GOING!
Speaker: Tom Dadant, Host Defense
Mushrooms & Immunity
Class: Agar Plates with Folkish Farms
Time: 12:00 - Patio Tent
(Beginner to intermediate) Learn how to use agar plates for growing out spores into cultures and eventually isolating those to grow out or preserve long term. Explore taking tissue cultures from wild mushrooms and how to clean and isolate those cultures for use. Folkish Farms will go over everything from start to finish.
Time: 1:00 - Patio Tent
(Beginner to intermediate) Learn how to grow your own Mushrooms. Michael Holcomb , founder of Baltispore, will be covering the full cultivation process from start to finish. Attendees will learn the basics of growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms by making blue oyster kits. He’ll also be sharing his personal journey of how mushrooms have supported his physical and mental recovery after cancer. The goal is to inspire and educate, making home mushroom cultivation approachable for everyone. Class will be free and attendees will get their own bag made at the end of the class.
Class: Growing Your Own Mushrooms with Baltispore
Class: Growing Mushrooms at Home with East Coast Mushrooms
Time: 3:00 - Tap Room
(Beginner to intermediate) Learn how to grow your own Mushrooms. Heidi Bassani, founder of East Coast, will cover the basics of adding mushrooms to your gardens and containers.
Time: 2:00 PM - Patio Tent
Animated Short: 12 minutes
All Ages Mush-Mush giveaways!
Director: Joeri Christiaen
Back by popular Demand! Mush-Mush and the Mushables! Connect to the world of fungi, foraging and friendship through this special screening suitable for all ages.
Mush-Mush and the Mushables follows the adventures of Mush-Mush, his best friends Lilit and Chep as they discover just how fun outdoor life can be.
Richmond screening sponsored by La Cabane Productions.
Screening: Mush-Mush and the Mushables
Time: 12:00 PM - Tap Room
Documentary Short: 25 Minutes Q & A with Film maker
Director: Rose Vincelli Gustine Starring: Journei Bimwala
Imagine a green place. A river rushes by; herbs grow among chestnut and cherry trees. Now wedge this place between highrises and train tracks in the South Bronx, NYC. Still a lush oasis, just - different. Here, Journei, an herbalist, tends the Bronx River Foodway, and seeks nourishment from the earth.
Richmond Premier sponsored by Garlic Party Docs
Featured in the Athena Film Festival and the Bronx River Alliance Spring Equinox Mugwort Celebration
Screening: What We Discover Along the Way
Foraging: With Journei Bimwala and Lucretia Jones
Time: 1:00 PM - Park (meet on the patio)
Immediately following the film, What We Discover Along the Way, and Q and A, join herbalists Journei Bimwala of the Bronx River Food Way and Lucretia Jones of House of Lykaya and Off-Gridish Homestead for an urban foraging and identification walk at Gilles Creek Park neary by.
Sponsored by Garlic Party Docs
Time: 3:30 - Patio Tent
White Witch: by The Athanor Dance Collective is a captivating 10-minute performance that explores the mystique and power of the white witch through a mesmerizing blend of dance, silks, flame, swords, and claws.
Presented by the Athanor Dance Collective, this act is an immersive ritualistic journey that showcases the strength and grace of the white witch archetype. The performance is a fusion of various art forms, including bellydance and flow arts, all infused with a dark-electronic beat that adds an air of mystery and allure.
To learn more about their classes and upcoming performances keep your eyes on our posts and stories follow them at https://www.instagram.com/athanor_dance_collective/#
original image by @murphykphoto with edits from @ethereal_ginnie_fae
Performance: Athanor Dance Collective - White Witch
Richmond Moon Market
Time: All Day
Location: 2nd Floor Mezzanine
Richmond’s favorite craft and wellness market featuring over forty local vendors, mushrooms growers, fortunes, herbalists, artists, plants, vintage wares, jewelry, home decor, art, ceramics, clothing and more. Plus the Live Buena taco truck, craft beer, and live music.
DONATE!
Time: 4:20 PM - Tap Room
Discuss the changing laws, local research, and social mores regarding psychoactive plants and fungi in the commonwealth of Virginia.
Panel Talk: The State of Psychoactive Plants and Fungi in Virginia
Panelists:
Will E. Nelson (Decriminalize Nature Virginia),
Chelsea Higgs Wise (Marijuana Justice),
Isa Bolivar (Shaman & Medicine Woman),
Maya Gaines-Smith MS (González-Maeso Lab, at MCV)
Alistaire McKemy MSW, LCSW (Calm Waters)
Will E. Nelson, Decriminalize Nature Virginia
Will Nelson, Co-Founder of Decriminalize Nature Virginia, is a key figure in driving statewide reform for psychedelics and entheogenic plants. With a talent for political and community organizing, he has traveled around the Commonwealth of Virginia to educate and discuss legislation. Will's expertise extends to conducting workshops on plant and mushroom cultivation throughout the state.
Maya Gaines-Smith, MS, Neuroscience PhD candidate in the González-Maeso Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Maya Gaines-Smith, is a two-time Hampton University alumna, working toward a PhD in Neuroscience at VCU. Currently Gaines-Smith is studying the therapeutic mechanism of MDMA, attempting to parse out the primary molecular mechanisms necessary for its potentially therapeutic action. She has designed and contributed to projects studying psilocybin, ibogaine analogs, DMT analogs, and LSD to name a few, She is researching how these compounds can be used to alter brain morphology in individuals experiencing any number of complaints, be it depression, PTSD, or substance use disorder. She has written extensively about psychedelics in general, from both a pharmacological/neuroscience perspective, as well as a socio-cultural perspective, and believes both perspectives are imperative to any worthwhile discussion about psychedelic therapies.
Alistaire McKemy. MSW, LCSW
Alistaire is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapist. He received his MSW from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018. In 2023, he completed psychedelic-assisted therapy training through the Integrative Psychiatry Institute as a member of their 4th cohort, focusing on treatments utilizing ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA. Alistaire is a member of the LGBTQ+ community and specializes in working with clients who have experienced complex and/or developmental trauma.
Isa Bolivar, Shaman, Medicine Woman
Isa Bolivar is a traditional energy healer devoted to ancient practices that restore balance and well-being. Through sacred plant medicine, sweat lodge ceremonies (Temazcal), Reiki, past-life regression, and Family Constellations, she guides deep healing and self-discovery. Her work includes sacred plant medicine rituals, blending ancestral wisdom with modern energy work to help reconnect with one’s true essence.
Chelsea Higgs Wise, MSW, Marijuana Justice, Founder and Executive Director
Chelsea was a clinical social worker for ten years before transitioning to help organizations create equitable policies for community safety. Chelsea’s expertise continues to influence criminal justice, mental health and anti-drug war priorities in Virginia.
In 2019, Chelsea co-founded Marijuana Justice for equitable legalization as a gateway to dismantle the Virginia War on Drugs and in 2021 Virginia became the first state in the South to legalize simple possession of marijuana, home cultivation as well as create a fund to reinvest for community repair. Through her leadership, the organization also convenes southern organizers around Drug War Reparations as well as pushing anti-monopoly regulation in order to build community-led economies. Federally, Chelsea is an active voice within the United for Marijuana Decriminalization (UMD) coalition focused on organizing public comment for the recent marijuana scheduling proposal.
Time: 4:00 - Patio Tent
Come to Mushroom Mania in your finest fungi fashions and you could win cash and prize. There can only be one Supreme Mushroom Maniac!
Categories:
Supreme Mushroom Maniac
Best Group Costume or Duo
Best Li’l ‘Shroom (12 and under)
Costume Contest
Live Music: The Embalmers
Time: 5:00 - Patio Tent
The Embalmers bring the reverb-drenched fuzzed out waves of sonic horror to the unsuspecting citizens of Richmond VA and beyond!
Talk: Fluorescent Fungi with Blue Ridge Mycological Society
Time: 1:00 - Tap Room
ALL AGES!
Join Blue Ridge Mycological Society president, Pat Mitchell for a talk about the fluorescent behavior of forest organisms, most notably fungi. No mycological knowledge is needed. They will discuss the different types of glow that occur in the forest and explore several organisms that fluoresce.
Food Trucks
More Mushroom Events in Virginia
LOCATION: HaaShrooms 5750 Jabez Lane Goochland, Virginia 23063
WHEN: Sundays from 9:30 AM till 11:30 AM beginning in April
Instructor: Steve Haas
Learn to locate and identify wild mushrooms and wild edible and medicinal plants with Steve Haas on their 60 acre woodland estate. The easy hike is filled with surprises and fun for all! These hunts are extremely popular and fill quickly! We do not collect any mushrooms on group hunts. If you are interested in learning more and keeping all found fungi, join Steve for a private hunt.
Registration is required.
2025 SPONSORS
Thanks to the generosity of these kind folks Mushrooms Mania remains free and open for all to learn, explore and celebrate the fungi kingdom. Check them out.
SUPPORT MUSHROOM MANIA
FAQs
Free admission? YES! DONATE NOW TO KEEP THE FUNGI GOING!
Yes. We love to share the fun of mushrooms and local makers with everyone. This event is free and open to the public. Donations are essential to keeping the fun going. We need your support to continue the mania!
How can I support Mushroom Mania?
Is this a family friendly event?
Yes! There will be fungi fun for all ages. Friends under 18 are welcome with a chaperone. There will be discussion and imagery related to psychoactive and psychedelic mushrooms and plants there. Please use your best judgement.
Got any “shrooms” for sale?
No. In Virginia, it is still illegal to buy, sell or possess psychedelic fungi aka “shrooms,” or “magic mushrooms,” even for medicinal use. No vendors will be selling, trading or giving away illegal items. This is a family friendly event. Be cool. Write to your state and local representatives and ask them to support changing legislation. And check out https://decrimnatureva.org/
Should I do “‘shrooms” at Mushroom Mania?
No, see above. This is for everyone’s safety. Mushroom Mania is a family friendly event.
Many harm reductionist and psychonaughts believe the safest use of psychedelics is in a familiar, safe, and controlled place with someone experienced, knowledgeable, trusted and sober to care for and/or guide you. Be cool. Be safe.
Can I be a vendor at Mushroom Mania?
Vendor applications is now closed.
Can I take FREE public transit? YES! We recommend it!
YES! GRTC and PULSE Bus is currently free to ride.
Stop: PULSE Bus East Riverfront
Stop: GRTC 4B to Main at East Riverfront
Stop: GRTC 4A admiral Gravely Blvd and Williamsburg Rd.
Parking info
Parking is free at Stone Brewing Richmond.
Parking is limited.
We suggest using FREE public transit.
Virginia Capitol Trail cyclists
Exit at University of Richmond docks.
Take Warf St. to 16 Nicholson St.
Bike racks are in the parking lot.
Are dogs allowed?
Friendly dogs are welcome on the outside patio. No pets inside
Nature loves courage.
-Terence McKenna
