If you've ever been to a mushroom festival - particularly the Pacific Northwest Mushroom Festival, which this year runs July 27 and 28 - you already know that mycologists ('shroom experts) are in a league of their own. Mushroom festivals are the strangest, funniest and, not so incidentally, most educational experience you're ever likely participate in. And, no, hippie: Pacific Northwest Mushroom Festival does feature "magic" mushrooms (psilocybes and otherwise). What it does include are about a dozen local restaurant chefs who will prepare mushroom-based delectables during the Lacey festival.

How much will it cost you to sample this orgy of fungal sensuality? Five bucks. Five bucks! Good luck scoring a mushroom high, um, we mean educational experience for less.

There will be a full "Kidz Zone," taller people can enjoy cooking demonstrations, educational speakers and a wine auction/guzzling July 26 at Harmony Hall (9101 Steilacoom Road SE). 

All proceed go to support community projects by the Rotary Club of Hawks Prairie, which includes multiple military organizations.

Come meet fellow 'shroomheads and enjoy a cheap, delicious experience that won't end up a hard five for Class C felony possession of a controlled substance.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST MUSHROOM FESTIVAL, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, July 27 and Sunday, July 28, Thurston County Regional Athletic Complex, 8341 Steilacoom Road SE, Lacey, $5, 360.259.6672