This is a big annual event for us MH locals. Â It used to be at the community park which is a stone throw away from my house. Â Not sure if I'm happy about them moving or sad about it. Â Happy bcuz we don't get the foot traffic of people walking by our development or sad bcuz we can no longer enjoy the entertainment they have from our front yard.
This is similar to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy. Â Lots of vendors and food trucks. Â The weather is usually better this time of year than the Garlic Festival which is in late July.
Your typical large festival minus one big miss, there were very few mushroom dishes. I think a total of 5 booths (of about 30 food options) had specific mushroom dishes. The fried ones were horrible (soggy), but the scampi spot was on point at least. Typical festival, definitely worth if you're free and in the area, but I'll skip the future ones unless they enforce mushroom options.
Review Source:This is what I just don't understand - it is a MUSHROOM festival....where are the MUSHROOMS? When I go to a themed festival, I want to be bathed in whatever it is supposed to be about. For instance - the Greek festival - they have Greek beer, Greek liquor, Greek lamb and gyros and hummus and olives. Greek art and jewelry. And sexy Greek women.
The Mushroom Festival? 1 vendor selling fried mushrooms and 1 vendor selling stuffed mushrooms - along with onion rings, corn dogs, and other non mushroom items. No mushroom art. No mushroom jewelry. No mushroom hairspray or cologne. Not even sure how they get away with calling it a mushroom festival.
That said, it is a pretty big event and they have rides and a petting zoo/pony ride for the kids. The beer is cold and they have some cool wineries represented like Guglielmo. This year the weather was a perfect 80 degrees which made for a nice afternoon unlike years in the past when it has been +100. As long as the weather cooperates and the kids still enjoy it, we will continue to make the trek in the years to come.
HUGE South Bay Festival with endless vendors and great crowds!
This festival is next to downtown Morgan Hill and not IN it. Â I think this was pretty smart considering the sheer size of this thing. Â
TWO food courts, both with excellent selections - brisket, turkey leg, oysters, and so much more.
Several stages with entertainment. Â Lots of people and good times all around. Â It was nice to be in the warm weather when the rest of the bay was a bit cooler.
Highly recommend!
Have been going for the past two years! Last year we reached quite early so didn't have to wait too long to get food and drinks. However, this year we reached a little late in the afternoon. The place was packed! There was hardly any space to walk and we had to wait a long while to get our food and beer.
Most other stalls are just okay. They also have some games and rides for kids. We just end up going for the lovely fresh mushrooms! The fried mushrooms and zucchini and garlic fries are just fantastic! We also tried the garlic chicken teriyaki food bowl and it was awesome. Of course, it came with a side of mushrooms!
How you going to call yourself a mushroom festival and serve corn dogs? I was expecting to try mushrooms in a variety of forms such as ,burgers, pizza, ice cream and beer. After all, that's what makes the Gilroy Garlic Festival unique. Imagine my disappointment when my choices were chicken strips, carne asada nachos, and funnel cakes. Hah?
Staying with the carnival theme, this festival offers a variety of rides for kids. My four year old son had a great time on the superhero bouncy house, tea cups, and car rides. You can also expect to find your typical carnival games and win lame prizes that your kids will never play with once they leave the festival.
***** Please note- Each ride requires 3 to 5 tickets per ride. You can also purchase 24 tickets for $20.00.
There were a ton of vendors at the festival selling arts, crafts, clothing, handbags, and sunglasses. I expected this, and appreciate all the entrepreneurs on-site trying to earn a living. However, I did not like that some vendors were there just to capitalize on the large crowd. A Geico insurance agent at the mushroom festival? Really?
Overall, I was disappointed in my first and only visit to this annual festival. The food was below average and expensive, and it felt like a flea market atmosphere. Do yourself a favor, and go check out downtown Morgan Hill instead. At least there are cool restaurants and bars you can hang out instead of wasting your time and money at this tourist trap.
I must say this review is a bit biased because I've never been to a town festival (I know, what's wrong with me?)--this is my first one.
I do agree that the themes of mushrooms or Mardi Gras aren't really present. Â They did vendors offering fried or stuffed mushrooms and Mardi Gras toys but I was sort of expecting to have purple/green/yellow fungi exuberantly welcoming me (ok, maybe not to that extent).
Despite this, I still had a good time, though! Â The smell of steak and funnel cake in the air, lots of people parading down the aisles, super friendly vendors proffering samples of fudge, nuts, and really good smelling soap... oh fine, I'm easily amused. Â Most of the vendors are local, so it pleased me to find handmade clothes and art made in THE YOU-ESS-OF-AY! Â Speaking of American-made stuff, the Ford dealership had a prize-wheel-ish thing and I won a $10 gas gift card. Â Yessss
An hour or two prior I ran the 5K fun run that went with it on Coyote Creek Trail. Â The scenery was alright but it's comparatively cheaper than other runs. Â Plus I got a t-shirt! Â :)
The event name is a little deceiving as there were barely any mushrooms at this festival. Like others, I was expecting more food vendors offering mushroom masterpieces. One of the vendors that were selling Stuffed Mushrooms actually ran OUT of them (hmm, good thing it wasn't a MUSHROOM festival, lol) and we were bummed out about that. We ended up getting deep fried ones at the vendor next door. Those were mediocre, simply beer battered and fried. We also tried the fried zucchini (which were good), deep fried artichoke hearts (meh, too much breading and too little artichoke), fried calamari (didn't try but was told it was nothing special), cheese pupusas (just OK), tri-tip (nice & juicy) and garlic bread which we made open face tri-tip sandwiches with. Fatness ensues.
That being said, despite the lack of mushrooms, this festival wasn't so bad. It was larger than I expected it to be, had carnival rides for the kids, flowing beer and wine, a hodge podge of merchandise tents, crafts, art and decor, small food retailers, local honey, among others.
Cons:
- no shade in the food eating area, hopefully next year they can put up some type of tent contraption so that no one passes out from heat stroke while eating, lol.
- MORE 'SHROOMS PLEASE!!! Only two or three vendors had mushrooms on their menu!
- The event website stated to "leave pets at home" so I didn't bring Happy with me. Then I see like 20 dogs during the time I'm at the festival. What gives? No fair.
- where was the Yelp tent? I didn't know they were even there :( WAHH (Okay this is more like a personal con- haha.)
Much more room for improvement here. Step it up, Morgan Hill!
I was expecting mushrooms galore!! The "food court" was REALLY small. Out of the 7-8 food vendors, only 1-2 had mushrooms on their menu and none of it blew my socks off. Basically if I Googled their recipes, I could have made the food at home.
The only cool part was getting to try Chicken Adobo Fries from the Rice Rocket truck and getting shaved ice from the stall that let you choose your own flavors (I made mine a yummy rainbow, can't just stick to one flavor).
I was extremely disappointed and hope next time that the mushrooms were the REAL headliner in this festival. It seemed like they were just tossed in the name just to get some draw, but it almost had NOTHING to do with it.
As Art and Wine festivals go this one is a bit above average in this above average town. BTW we saw mushrooms but no Mardi Gras. I guess it is just a catchy name to use Mardi Gras.
The parking was a bit tricky. The good thing about this festival was that we walked back and forth between the festival and the business district. the layout worked really well.
The music was very good we thought especially JJ Hawg who had a bass player that was off the hook. The lead guitar guy was no slouch either.
The weather was excellent this time around and we enjoyed the rural flavor of the local crowd. Â Overall a nice experience.
It was ok! Nothing to brag about except that the portobello cheese quesadilla was good. I expected to see mushroom overload but it was nothing of that. They had a tent of the process of how mushrooms grow and the different mushrooms they were selling but other than that it looked like a regular county fair. As my husband and I were looking for something to eat--with mushrooms of course, we only found one booth who did just that.
After finding the Yelp booth and taking a picture with the sizzling bacon we left.
The first time I went was in the mid 80's as a teen, went back a few years ago, lots of changes. Â Like the variety of vendors and food. Â Yeah you get some of the "standards" but also enjoy some of the more unique items, smoked drum sticks, scampi and the best stuffed mushrooms....
I hear they are doing a mushroom exhibit, not sure what that is about. Â We are ready for the summer. Â The guy in the mushroom costume cracks me up.
I also just found out that all their $ goes to local scholarships, that's cool.
Parking Tip, park at the train station and walk down depot, much easier to get in and out.
And with no cost for admission or parking it is a deal these days, we save our money for the festival... Â See you soon!
I enjoy the food at the Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras, but I wish they moved it back to Monterey Road like they used to have it. The park they hold it in has very little shade, and MH gets very hot in late-May.
The booths were just aight. Seemed like lots of toe rings and cheap jewelry. We did buy a couple of bags of "Dazzles Kernel-Less Popcorn." Easily the most chronic popcorn that I've ever tried.
The food court had a few mushroom treats, but it was mostly the "usual fair food." Corn dogs, chicken kabobs, funnel cake, etc.
But the showstopper at the MHMMG is the "ManSmith Tri-Tip Sandwich." If you can't find it, look for the booth with the longest line. We literally come to the festival each year just for a ManSmith. Thin cut tri-tip, on toasted garlic bread... Mmmmmmmm! They also have two sauces - beer or tequila. This sandwich alone takes this festival from a 3-star to a four.
A good place to grab festival food, but there are much better fairs to go to.
The "Mushroom" Mardi Gras... I was kinda sad to see the lack of mushroom in this "mushroom" festival.
It was fun, little kid rides, tons of vendors. But, it was freaken HOT! Any shade that could be found was usually taken. Â Overpriced food and long lines. 7 bucks for a small tray of fried button mushrooms and 6 bucks for a bowl of rice, mushrooms, and 3 shrimp. (it would have cost you 2 bucks for for 2 shrimp.)
They could have made this festival more mushroom oriented, but it was something nice to do over the Memorial Day weekend. Â I would love to see more variety next year though.
So why call this Mushroom Mardi Gras when there's nothing mushroom about it? Â Well, I'm lying. Â I had mushrooms in my Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich. Â
I knew that I was going to be baking in the sun today so I came prepared piling on the sunscreen and putting on an extra layer of foundation on my face. Â My thought process went a little like this: Â I hate getting dark. Â Let's slather my face with sunscreen.. Shoot I don't think it'll be enough. Â How about I go over the sunscreen with some heavy duty cake (ish) makeup? Â Yes, let's do that. Â
At the end of the day, my forehead got a little tan. Â My feet had tan lines from my sandals. Â I had tank top lines. Â I should have brought an umbrella. Â Seriously. Â
What? Â They ran out of water bottles at every drink station??? Â Lame.
The festival was rather large, there were a large number of vendors and food booths. Â However, the word "mushroom" in the title is a complete misnomer - there were probably only about 4 food vendors that sold any dishes that were mushroom related (the other couple dozen served standard festival fare), and these places only served portabello and button (nothing exotic or different). Â There were no exhibits, booths, or items for sale that were mushroom related.
It was a decent festival, especially considering the parking and entrance to the festival was free, just don't come here expecting the event to have anything to do with mushrooms, really. Â I came with friends expecting a much more culinary experience, and was disappointed when there was hardly any mushroom anything to see.
They should simply delete the word "mushroom" from the name of the event to make it Morgan Hill Mardi Gras, and it would be a much more accurate description of what you can expect.
Very nice festival - the name makes me giggle - there were hardly any mushrooms in evidence (as opposed to the overwhelming garlic festival) . And it was in the middle of summer and Mardi Gras = Fat Tuesday - as in the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday before Lent in March. Oui Oui?
Over all the crowd was very comfortable. Booths were great. Some neat artwork and ideas. It was clean and comfortable. Nice crowd. Nice music. We enjoyed ourselves in a relaxed way. Fair amount of walking but not too bad. Parking was not perfect but not bad.
I would definitely go again if I see it listed. Better to call it Mid- Summer Mushroom Fest or something and get some darn more mushroom exhibits/demo's/tastings/products! Â Also list it on Artsopolis.
I like Morgan Hill's little downtown area too...
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