Kennett Square, a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, also known as the Mushroom Capitol of the World, plans to drop a 700-pound stainless steel toadstool sculpture, during a midnight countdown at its annual Mushroom Festival.
State Representative John Lawrence tapped Kathi Lafferty, coordinator of the annual Mushroom Festival, to commission the huge fungal sculpture. “Being the mushroom capital of the world, I don’t know, why not,” said Lafferty. The mushroom drop will be the finale of “Midnight in the Square,” an event with music, food and other entertainment, which is part of the annual labor day festival that draws roughly 100,000 visitors.
The steel mushroom, which will measure over seven feet wide and eight feet tall, was paid for by To-Jo Mushrooms, who’d donated $6,000 to the project. Bob’s Crane Service is donating the crane for the drop.
Kennett Square is known as the Mushroom Capitol of the World, as mushroom farming in the region produces over a million pounds of the edible fungus per week. In addition to the Kennet Square event, there are several mushroom festivals held annually across the country. There’s an event in Telluride, Colorado, the Morel Mushroom Festival held in Harrison and Boyne City, Michigan, as well as the Mushroom Mardi Gras Festival held in Morgan Hill, California.
Below is of photo montage concerning the sort of things that go on at a Kennett Square Mushroom Fest:
In related news, last month in Leslie, Michigan, giant mushrooms of the real variety were found in the back yard of the Delaney family manor. The mushrooms in that instance were of the Giant puffball type, Calvatia gigantea, to be exact.
Despite the impending Kennett Square mushroom’s impressive stats, it pales in comparison to the giant honey mushroom that exists in Oregon. That ‘shroom is the largest known living organism, spanning 2,200 acres around tree roots in the densely populated Malheur National Forest.
Image via Wikimedia Commons.