The Merry Mushroom Festivals of May

Both Morgan Hill and McCloud will spend Memorial Day Weekend 2019 in a flavorful way.

THE FIFTH MONTH... on the calendar can appear, at first tasty glance, to be the most fruit-laden, at least when it comes to the largest larks around California. For May is when the strawberry shines brightest, er, reddest, and a host of other sweet garden treats take the spotlight. But that isn't the whole story, from the springtime produce aisle, and if we were to tell you that fruit fans have all the fun we'd be fibbing. For there's another fun(gi) element to May, and, yes, it deals with mushroom love. That this fungi fun happens in a pair of California towns, that both have "M" names, over Memorial Day Weekend (another "M"), in May (yep, one more "M"), and they deal with mushrooms (you know where we're going) makes it all rather easy to remember. So lovers of chewy, savory stroganoffs and 'shroomed-out burgers, get happy, for both...

MORGAN HILL AND MCCLOUD... will fΓͺte fungi come the end of May 2019. The Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras, which takes place a short scoot from Gilroy (home to the mushroom's BFF, the Gilroy Garlic Festival in July), will include wine tasting, a cooking contest (blended burger is the theme for the fest's big 40th), and live entertainment. And if you're in the Mt. Shasta region on May 26 and 27? Stop by beautiful McCloud for a focus on wild mushrooms, a mushroom dinner, "educational booths on Mushroom harvesting," and lots more. Of course, you don't have to fully M-out in the realm of your mushroom love (May, Memorial Day); wintertime has its fungi festivities, too, in Big Sur and Napa. Which means that, yes, to be a mushroom maven in California is to enjoy a nearly year-round bounty of shroomy celebrations.

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