Viewfinder: Fun with the Fungus Among Us

"The main point of the Fair is education," said Phil Carpenter, co-chair of the Fugus Fair, which runs for three days at Santa Cruz's .

"Because if you eat a bad one, you can get sick. If you eat a really bad one, you can die."

People lined up Friday evening with bags of exotic mushrooms to show experts and get them identified. Then they walked to the other side of the room to eat delicacies made with the fungi.

The fair runs all day Saturday and Sunday and includes cooking demonstrations, lectures about the history of mushrooms, how to avoid poison mushrooms and a kids room with mushroom building and mushroom art. More than 200 species are available for viewing or eating.

Admission is $10. And the fair runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Check the schedule of events here.

The event raises a few thousand dollars for the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz, which studies and teaches about mycology, uh, all things mushroom.