Back Up_46th Telluride Mushroom Festival: Directory

SCHEDULE LAUNCH IS JUNE 21st, 2026
COME BACK THEN TO VIEW THE OFFICIAL SCHEDULE

Welcome to the largest wild mushroom happening in North America, the 46th Annual Telluride Mushroom Festival! A plethora of events ranging from foray and mushroom ID sessions, to hands-on demonstrations, to lectures—all led by regionally, nationally, and internationally-known experts, (and we cannot forget the Mushroom Parade!) there is plenty for everyone, every day.

On this website, you can filter your search by events, venues, presenters, etc. Each year the Mushroom Festival features many wonderful presentations on “all things fungi.” Presentations on similar topics are grouped together at the same venue so that attendees interested will be able to spend more time learning and interacting, and less time walking between venues. See who else is interested in each event and interact with our extended Mushroom Family. See you soon!

In Memory Of Katrina Blair

In Memory of our beloved Katrina Blair.
"Rest In Weeds"

Katrina Blair began studying wild plants in her teens when she camped out alone for a summer to focus on eating wild foods. She later wrote “The Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants of the San Juan Mountains” for her senior project at Colorado College. In 1997 she completed a MA at John F Kennedy University in Orinda, CA in Holistic Health Education. She founded Turtle Lake Refuge in 1998, a non-profit, whose mission is to celebrate the connection between personal health and wild lands. Turtle Lake Refuge is a wild harvested, locally grown and living foods café and sustainable education center for ... Read more

Company Turtle Lake Refuge
Position (1970-2026)

Britt Bunyard

Britt Bunyard, PhD, is the founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of the mycology journal Fungi, in print since 2008. Britt is a former university professor and has published over 100 academic and popular science papers. He has served as an editor for mycological and entomological research journals, and mushroom guide books.A popular evangelizer on all things fungal, Britt has given more than 250 invited lectures to academic and popular audiences across North America and beyond. He has been featured on the BBC World Service’s Newshour, NPR’s All Things Considered, PBS’s NOVA and Wisconsin...

Company Telluride Mushroom Festival
Position Co-Director

Tradd Cotter

Tradd Cotter is a microbiologist, professional mycologist, and retired landscape designer, who has been cultivating mushrooms both commercially and experimentally for more than thirty years.

Tradd is the author of the best-selling book Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation (2014) and has won numerous awards for his work including the prestigious Clemson University Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2013), the EPA GRO-U Fellowship Award (2011), including the Gary Lincoff Award in 2021.

Mr. Cotter’s ongoing research projects include bacterial interactions with fungi, mycopesticides, novel an... Read more

Company Blue Portal
Position Mycologist

Larry Evans

Larry Evans has been tiptoeing through the subalpine spruce and fir and showing people how to tell mushrooms apart since the 20th century. Not afraid to sing or yodel, he may be triggered by the phrase, "can ya eat it?" He's been writing songs and singing about mushrooms and released Fungal Boogie (2003) and Fungal Boogieman (2007) CDs. His recent music videos are on the Fungal Jungal YouTube channel.

Larry taught mycology at the University of Montana's Glacier Institute for 20 years and founded the Western Montana Mycological Association in 1991. For seven years he owned and operated the Bl... Read more

Position Foray Leader

Linnea Gilman

Linnea Gillman has been with the Telluride Mushroom Festival from the beginning. She has an MS in mycology from Virginia Tech, is retired from the USDA Forest Service where she worked on mycorrhizal fungi, and is a co-author of Wild Mushrooms of Telluride.

Art Goodtimes

Art Goodtimes is an Italian-American poet, activist, basketweaver, non-profit administrator and politician in Colorado, as well as a driving force of the Telluride Mushroom Festival since its beginnings in 1981.

He grew up in California where he was a member of the Mycological Society of San Francisco. He attended St. Joseph's Seminary for six years but graduated from San Francisco State University in 1970, doing post-graduate work at UC Berkeley Extension where he obtained a lifetime California teaching credential in early childhood education.

A reporter in Telluride starting in 1982, he went... Read more

Company Telluride Mushroom Festival
Position Festival Steward and Poet-in-Residence
Location Colorado

Mariah Grimes

Mariah is a freelance creative, website designer, and social media manager who has been working with the Telluride Mushroom Festival since 2022. Before divinely stumbling into her work with TMF, Mariah worked in hospitality/events working for various boutique hotels and wedding venues. She has organized women's retreats and intentional gatherings in Arizona and North Carolina. Mariah first connected with TMF during her time traveling full-time with her partner in their RV where they both lived and worked at Fireweed Cafe in Rico Colorado.

She now resides full time in Swannanoa, North Carolina and enjoys foraging in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband, dog and two foster children... Read more

Position TMF Marketing and Sales Manager
Location Asheville, North Carolina

Chad Hyatt

Chad Hyatt is an expert forager and classically trained chef who has made a name for himself in northern California and beyond, sharing his delicious spin on wild mushroom cookery. He has cooked in a variety of restaurants and private clubs around the San Francisco Bay area, where he can often be found foraging for mushrooms, putting on wild mushroom-themed dinners, teaching mushroom-related classes, and attending mushroom festivals. He is passionate about cooking approachable comfort food based on local, seasonal ingredients, and, of course, wild mushrooms.

Position Chef

Ken Kassenbrock

Ken Kassenbrock, MD,PhD has been an avid hunter of wild mushrooms since the late 1970s. Trained as a physician-scientist, he has worked in Cell and Molecular Biology, including post-doctoral work with the brewer’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Although his interests in fungi were initially largely culinary, over the years they expanded (mushroomed?) to include other aspects of the biology of this fascinating kingdom including ecology, toxicology, and cultivation. Avocation and vocation eventually converged, and Ken taught Mycology (mushrooms, molds, mildews and more) in the Biology Department... Read more

Company Colorado State University

Jessica Langley

Jessica Langley (b. 1981, USA) is an interdisciplinary artist, somatic sex & relationship practitioner, earth medicine mentor, and amateur mycologist. Langley is based in Colorado where she an active member of the Pikes Peak Mycological Society and facilitates platonic intimacy experiences and other somatic based workshops. She has exhibited her artwork internationally in such cities as Belfast, Berlin, Mexico City, New York, Reykjavík, and Santa Cruz, as well as being featured in the Pittsburgh Biennial and the Queens International. She has been an artist-in-residence in numerous programs including... Read more

Position Artist

In Memory of Gary Lincoff

Gary Lincoff (1942-2018) The mycological community was heartbroken on March 16, 2018 to learn of Gary Lincoff’s passing. He was the greatest mycologist of our lifetime, a founder of the Telluride Mushroom Festival, and its heart and soul.

Company (1942-2018)

Abigail Maxon

Abigail Maxon, the passionate force behind Rhythmic Renewal, is dedicated to uncovering the
magic of your hormonal cycles and reclaiming womb sovereignty. By challenging the societal
belief that menstruation is merely a burden or inconvenience, she encourages you to see your
cycle as a potent instrument for self-discovery, fulfillment, and flow. Your hormones are not a
hindrance; they're a rhythm waiting to be danced with. She provides a unique way to connect
with the power of our hormonal rhythms, transforming them into a fun and empowering tool for
our rewilding journey.

With over a decade in the h... Read more

Company Rhythmic Renewal

John Michelotti

John Michelotti is the founder of Catskill Fungi which empowers people with fungi through outdoor educational classes, cultivation courses, mushroom art, and mushroom health extracts. John is a former President of the Mid-Hudson Mycological Association (MHMA) where he co-founded the Gary Lincoff Memorial Scholarship. He served on the Mushroom Advisory Panel for Certified Naturally Grown to develop ecological standards in mushroom production. He was chosen by the Catskill Center as a "Steward of the Catskills" for his contribution to the environment. His goal is to educate and inspire people to... Read more

Company Catskill Fungi

Greg Sanchez

Greg Sanchez knew nothing about mushrooms until 2004 when he wondered, “What do you do at a mushroom festival?” After attending the Telluride Mushroom Festival that year, he found out, sparking a lasting fascination with and a deep passion for all things fungal. Greg is a high school Social Studies teacher in the Denver metro area and an active member of the Colorado Mycological Society, serving in various roles including CMS President in 2011, 2014, and 2022. In 2025 Greg was part of the Colorado State Mushroom Joint Committee that was able to get Agaricus julius designated as the official... Read more

Company Colorado Mycological Society
Position Foray Leader

Joanna Spindler

Joanna Yonder (she/her) lives as caretaker on a 200-acre ranch outside of Telluride, Colorado. Joanna came to this corner of the wild west following a fierce love of climbing ice and rock, and stayed to work at Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library, where she has been on staff for over ten years. She is deeply interested in building positive mountain culture, in collective liberation, and in community building through storytelling. She is currently the Poet Laureate of San Miguel County.

Location Telluride

Andrew Wilson

Andrew Wilson is the Associate Curator of Mycology in the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi at Denver Botanic Gardens. His research studies the patterns and processes that shape mushroom diversity, where he has traveled the world to document and describe new species. As a curator he is an advocate for fungaria (e.g., museums for fungi) and works closely with other curators and managers of macrofungal collections to elevate their value for research. He also works closely with amateur mycological societies and events (NAMA, CMS, FunDiS, Telluride Mushroom Festival, etc.) to advise and promote collecting... Read more

Company Denver Botanic Gardens

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