Hay-on-Wye is set to become the UK’s first Fungi Town again this autumn, with a celebration of the fungi kingdom.

Fungi Town returns from October 2 to 4, following last year’s event which attracted more than 2,000 visitors.

The festival will bring together mycologists, growers, artists, cooks and enthusiasts, exploring everything from mushrooms and toadstools to yeasts and moulds.

The programme includes talks on the cultural history of magic mushrooms, stinkhorns, medicinal mushrooms, fungi conservation and the role of decay.

Experts from Kew Gardens, Cardiff University, the Royal Horticultural Society and the National Museum of Wales will take part.

There will also be fungi-inspired cooking, poetry, mushroom growing, paper making and fungi hunts, alongside films, food and drink, a musical ‘Puffball’, a street parade and a town-wide mushroom window competition.

Events will be held at Hay Castle and The Globe at Hay, as well as shops, restaurants and other venues around the town.

Ed Fox, co-founder of Fungi Town, said: “There is so much to discover about fungi, but relatively few places where people can come together to celebrate them. We wanted to create a festival where experts and people who are simply curious about fungi could meet, learn and have a good time.

“Last year showed us just how much appetite there is for this. More than 2,000 people came to Hay, local businesses got behind the idea and volunteers helped turn the whole of Hay into Fungi Town. We’re looking forward to doing it all again, and making it even bigger and better in 2026.”

The full programme and visiting information are available at: www.fungitown.org.uk

Fungi Town has been made possible with support from Herefordshire Community Foundation, Ashley Family Foundation, Hay Fund, Black Mountain Lions, Hay Castle Trust, Usk Valley Trust and generous individual supporters.