A rainy Sunday saw hundreds of fungi fans spread throughout Ester Community Park for the fourth annual Fairbanks Fungi Festival.

Tables showcased dozens of mushroom species commonly found in Interior Alaska, which were collected by volunteers on Saturday. The day also included presentations by mycologists Christin Swearingen, Shannon Adams and Noah Siegel.

Swearingen, clad in mushroom earrings and an amanita headband, said that learning about fungi opens people’s eyes to what’s happening in their own backyards. She is also one of the event organizers.

“The more you learn about something, the more it opens your eyes to it,” she said. “It helps us know our home better.”

Swearingen explained that fungi play four critical ecological roles: They work as decomposers, mutualists, pathogens an

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