Just after 2:30 p.m. the rain plopped onto the thousands who
came to eat, drink and have a good time Saturday but for most
visiting the first day of the 32nd annual Mushroom Mardi Gras
festival, it wasn’t going to dampen the fun.
Morgan Hill – Just after 2:30 p.m. the rain plopped onto the thousands who came to eat, drink and have a good time Saturday but for most visiting the first day of the 32nd annual Mushroom Mardi Gras festival, it wasn’t going to dampen the fun.
As soon as the sky opened up – a surprising change of weather to most clad in tank-tops and extra sunscreen – just two umbrellas popped open near the mid-rows on the grass lawn at the Community and Cultural Center amphitheater.
“We brought these on accident,” Renade Aliganga said, sitting with her husband Robert, who successfully was guarding himself from the rain also. “We brought them for the sun,” she laughed. “It’s a wonderful day, we don’t mind it.”
The arts, crafts and food fair went off without a hitch Saturday from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. despite the balmy, 66-degree weather. The festival continues Sunday starting at 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. with an expected high of 73 degrees and sunny skies, no rain. The festival is free with entrances on Dunne Avenue near Monterey Road stretching to Depot Street and the Third Street Promenade.
Morgan Hill’s “flower” – the mushroom – made a resurgence Saturday with doubly more fungus food offerings, a huge inflatable mushroom for photo ops and even mushroom education complete with growing models of the life cycle of Santa Clara County’s agriculture darling.
“It’s been very crowded, but very good,” said Shelly Cotta, who works in sales at Monterey Mushrooms in Morgan Hill. “A lot of people are in asking questions. We’ve done this education piece before but it’s never been this big.”
Nearby Cotta’s booth in the Community and Cultural Center parking lot, Meghan and Joe Black of Hollister gazed at the map that marked the six different mushroom growers within Morgan Hill city limits. The Blacks were fresh from another produce jamboree at the Artichoke Festival in Castroville.
“It was not as impressive as this,” Meghan said. Often, visitors to Mardi Gras Saturday commented that the festival is well-organized.
The couple debated whether they might purchase mushrooms at Mardi Gras to take home. “Well, don’t say no to buying them quite yet,” Meghan said to Joe. “OK, but now we know we can go straight to the produces. They sell the mushrooms in their offices.”
The funky smell of mushrooms may have convinced Joe to get a little taste of Morgan Hill, besides his beer.
“OK, maybe we will get a couple caps,” he said. “We do have a backpack,” Meghan quipped.
At a break in the live music on the main stage, Morgan Hill’s Access Television announced the winners of the new contest among the town’s youth: Mr. Fungi and Miss Mushroom. Live Oak students Adam Groen, a senior and Haley Price, a junior, won the contest and will represent the town on a Fourth of July float in the parade this summer. MHAT volunteer Jim Carrillo originated the idea after noticing Morgan Hill was about the only town without its own “mister” and “missus” to wave in a parade.
The rows and rows of vendors – from churches passing out information on services, to chiropractors offering free spinal tests, to a catchall of hats, bags, scarves, lawn ornaments, jewelry, toy guns and Mardi Grad beads for sale – it was shopping that was all the rage Saturday.
Misty Easter of Concord and Timothy Reynolds of Antioch are festival fanatics. Standing by the portable toilets Saturday around 1 p.m. the friends declared the great time they were having at Morgan Hill’s Memorial Weekend go-to activity.
“It’s a long weekend, so we said, let’s get in the car and go,” Easter said.
“It’s so nice. The food, the smells, the sites. And the vendors. Oooh I love the vendors. I came for the vendors,” Reynolds said holding up his shopping bag. He said they go online and research where the next festival is, pack up their hats for the sun and go. And they weren’t exaggerating their love for festivals, their going to Concord, Clayton, Oakland and Fremont for their vendors, food and sun. Mushroom Mardi Gras was a first for Easter. “This is really, really good. Good people, too. And it’s clean!”
Reynolds jumped in and said he wanted to give a “shout-out” to the company that provided the Porta-Pottys; “they are the cleanest I’ve seen at all the festivals I’ve been to.”
“This festival definitely deserves two thumbs up,” Reynolds said.
Sunday the music, food and shopping will continue at the festival located on Dunne Avenue and Monterey Road. To view a program, go to www.mhmushroommardigras.com. Check your issue of the Morgan Hill Times Tuesday for complete coverage of Mushroom Mardi Gras.
