Headliner bands on Amphitheater Stage are Puro Bandido and Entourage
By Staff Reports
Mushrooms and music will provide plenty of fun under the sun in downtown Morgan Hill this Memorial Day weekend.
Back after two years of COVID-19 pandemic, the South Valley kicks off its summer family-friendly festival season with the popular Mushroom Mardi Gras held May 28 and 29.
“Everybody that we’ve talked to is really excited about it coming back. We’ve had really good support and response,” said Sunday Minnich, the festival’s main organizer. “I think everybody is ready for it to get back. We haven’t had it since 2019.”
Compared to previous years, the festival will be slightly scaled down because of construction now going on in the southeast corner of the Community Center’s parking lot and the closure of some of Depot Street. The festival will extend the vendors down Depot Street to Second Street, which usually is used as the Munchkinland kiddie ride area, she said.
Volunteers prepare food during a recent Mushroom Mardi Gras. This year’s 40th edition is shaping up to be one of the best ever, organizers say.
Morgan Hill Life file photo
The festival organizers especially encourage South Valley residents to come to the Mardi Gras as its purpose is to raise funds for Morgan Hill high school seniors heading for college.
“It’s important because the whole existence of the festival is to raise money for scholarships and education,” Minnich said. ”Unfortunately, in 2019 we had a $50,000 lost because we had rain on (that weekend’s) Sunday and then we had to cancel the festival in 2020 only six-weeks prior to it because of COVID.”
The organizers couldn’t give scholarships to students in 2020 and 2021, but the board put aside $17,000 for scholarships this year just to get the festival back in line, she said.
“The whole thing of the Mushroom Mardi Gras is education, to give scholarships to seniors who live within the boundaries of the Morgan Hill Unified School District,” she said. “We also do mini-grants to elementary and middle schools. We have the school groups and clubs and non-profits that we give stipends to who work the festival.”
The band Puro Bandido will be a headliner on the Amphitheater Stage on Saturday
Some of the vendors from past years won’t be at the 2022 Mushroom Mardi Gras because they could not continue their businesses because of COVID-19, she said. However, the festival gained some new vendors this year to make up for the loss.
This year, Bertha Valenzuela from Fortino Winery took over the festival’s premium wine tasting tent in the rose garden at the Community and Cultural Center, which will serve fine wines from Sarah’s Vineyards, Fortino, Guglielmo, Martin Ranch, Lightpost, and Church Creek. Access to the tent requires a separate ticket that can be purchased online on the festival’s website. The cost is $30 for ten tastings ($25 advance purchase).
“It’s a wine lover’s paradise for people who want to taste some of the premium wines from our local wineries,” Minnich said.
The amphitheater stage schedule for Saturday is 10 a.m. The Mitchell James Band (Country); 11:30 a.m. Rock the Heat (R&B, Pop, Rock n Roll); 1:30 p.m. Superbad (’70s, ’80s, ’90s & Today’s hits); 3:30 p.m. Isaiah Pickett (Musician, Guitarist, Singer/Songwriter); 5:30 p.m. Headliner Puro Bandido (Latin, Border Rock, Latin Rock).
The amphitheater stage schedule Sunday is 10 a.m. Fog City Swampers (Credence Clearwater Revival CCR Tribute); Noon Randy Sauro Band RSB (Classic Rock, Funk, Blues); 2 p.m. Joint Chiefs Band (Bay Area Funk and Classic R&B); 4 p.m. headliner Entourage the Band (Today’s Favorites, Yesterday’s Classics).
“This year we want to focus more on local people because everybody has been kind of cooped up for two years,” Minnich said. “It’s kind of like a reunion. Get together with your friends, have a good time, enjoy the first big festival in Morgan Hill since COVID. We definitely encourage the locals to come out because it’s like a hometown weekend.”
