Festival honors 100-ton, 1,500-year-old fungus
A 1,500-year-old, 100-ton fungus gets its due this week with northern Michigan’s annual Humungus Fungus Fest.
The festival in Crystal Falls honors the Armillaria fungus, which covers about 37 acres in Iron County’s Mastodon Township. It’s near the Wisconsin border, about 55 miles southwest of Marquette.
The Daily News of Iron Mountain says that researchers Myron Smith, James Anderson and Johann Bruhn discovered the giant fungus in the early 1990s.
They determined that the mushrooms shared genetic material and were in fact one organism. Most of it is underground and can’t be seen.
The fungus festival started Wednesday with a teen talent contest. It runs through Sunday.
