Join Central Texas Mycological Society & Ecology Action for an evening of family friendly, fungal fun as the Circle Acres Preserve in East Austin will be transformed into a Fluorescent Forest!

5-7pm: Come before dark for mushroom snacks, music, mushroom crafts, and a tree identification tour of the Healthy Soils, Healthy Trees community research project. Participate in hands-on demos to upcycle mushroom blocks at the Myco Research Station, and learn how to divert organic matter from the waste stream and turn it into valuable resources for your home and community.

7-8pm: Guided Tour of Fluorescent Forest & Glow in the Dark Bingo Explore the forest in a new light and discover the diverse, nocturnal ecosystem of the Circle Acres Preserve with UV flashlight to see glowing mushrooms, lichens, night pollinators, birds, insects, plants, and more. This family friendly event will highlight fungi's role in transforming a former dumpsite into a thriving urban forest. Learn how fungi are entangled in the forest helping plants gain water and nutrients, creating the pigments that give flowers their beautiful colors, and helping plants communicate with pollinators. We will have UV flashlights and a mothing set-up so we can attract and see the diverse, nocturnal ecosystem in a new light. Guests will learn how to look for, photograph and be community scientists in adding fluorescing organisms to the iNaturalist project.

We will have mushroom blocks for everyone to take home and upcycle. Mushroom snacks and warm Mush Love Tea provided. Get creative with glowing outfits, face paint and don't forget your camera and tripod.

Space is limited so to reserve tickets, RSVP here. Learn more here about how some plants, mushrooms, lichens and insects have evolved color patterns that are visible in the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic light spectrum, which humans cannot see but many insects, birds and animals can see.

Rain Date: Sun. Oct. 27th