About Us

South Sound Mushroom Club

The South Sound Mushroom Club is dedicated to finding, identifying, and eating mushrooms.

Our primary events are monthly meetings, forays (mushroom hunts) during mushroom seasons, a yearly weekend getaway, and participation in local mushroom-related events (such as the Pacific Northwest Mushroom Festival).

Meetings

Our meetings are in person and on ZOOM and you can get the zoom link by contacting the outreach chair. Click to see the current schedule of meetings, held the third Tuesday of every month from 7:00pm - 9:00pm at:

Capital Vision Christian Church <<< Map

1775 Yew Ave NE

Olympia, WA 98506

Membership & Fees

The South Sound Mushroom Club openly invites the public to come to a meeting and see what we are all about. If you like what you see, you are invited to join and participate in the many guided forays, weekend trips, and other events.

You may join the South Sound Mushroom Club by paying annual membership dues at a club meeting, foray, or on our "Join SSMC" page. Please see the "Join SSMC" page for more information.

There is a New Member Initiation Fee for the first year. For this fee you receive a New Member Packet containing an orange vest, a safety whistle, a club patch, and some helpful information on club policies, forays, and what to do with edible mushrooms after you find them.

If you would like more information about the club, please feel free to contact us.

Club History

The South Sound Mycological Society was founded sometime in 1974, with the following persons as charter members. While records are not available to prove this, some say that Paul Nestell was most instrumental in founding the organization.

NO Minutes available until March, 1975, when the Society agreed to join with Audubon Society in staging a Mushroom show in Oct. , '75. Gloria Ford was President in 1975. The April and June minutes record a fund-raising plant sale and planning for the show. The next recorded meeting was March, 1976, as a "reorganizational" meeting.

On Feb. 3, 1977, the name was changed to SOUTH SOUND MUSHROOM CLUB. Meetings were held in the Lacey Community Center until April, of 1980. (rent too high) In May, 1980, the club meeting place was changed to the Coach House of the State Museum. (rent increased and the meeting time was not available any more).

On October 21, 1985, the meeting place was moved to the Comunity Room of the Capital Mall. (No rental cost, and chosen meeting time was available for the club) Due to remodeling in the Capital Mall, that facility was no longer available, so it was arranged that we'd meet in the Olympia Center, at least through Feb., 1990. First meeting at Olympia Center was on November 20, 1989.

Due to a rent increase and other restrictive regulations in the Olympia Center, the club began meeting in Lacey Fire Department's Station No. 34, near Ostrom ts Mushroom Farm, where the first meeting was held on January 16, 1995.

Due to some time scheduling confl icts, the club moved to McLane Fire Department's Station No. 91, on Mud Bay Road, where the first meeting there was May 15, 1995. Meetings were held in the McLane Grange Hall in November and December, 1995, due to scheduling conflicts with fire dept. activities.

Due to a remodeling of the fire station meeting room, and the probability of a new rental cost, the club moved its meeting place to the clubhouse at Friendly Village, a retirement community, where the first meeting was held on April 16, 1997.