By Chris Barber
Contributing Writer

The 40th annual Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square will march into town with a parade along State Street – a much-anticipated return to an early parade custom that was abandoned earlier during the festival’s long history.

The parade will start at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 4, and run westward along the borough’s traditional parade route.

Mushroom Festival President Gina Puoci explained that a parade, which was a feature of the past, had become burdensome to plan. As time went by, staging areas had diminished and other roadblocks arose that made it more time-consuming and disruptive to include as part of the festivities.

However, this year’s parade will be organized and run by Kennett Collaborative, which has also taken over the popular Memorial Day Parade, thus relieving the Mushroom Festival Board and volunteers of the responsibility of planning the event.

Festival Coordinator Gale Ferranto said visitors can look forward to seeing local organizations and plenty of floats in the Thursday night opening procession.

The parade is just one of the features that will celebrate the mushroom – the crop that places Pennsylvania as its top annual producer—during a fun food festival that has evolved into the borough’s signature event.

The festival, which this year is on Sept. 6 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sept. 7 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., has grown by leaps and bounds during its years—to a point where attendance at times has been estimated in the high tens of thousands and the number of vendors lining the street has grown to 220 or more.

And, while Puoci and Ferranto are still delivering the familiar popular attractions of vendors, demonstrations and food, the two have made some slight streamlining improvements and added even more features for visitors to enjoy.

One issue that they took on this year is the crowding that occurs at the tent where mushroom growers show the public how they produce their crop next to the actual mushroom beds they brought in. Often, the waiting line into the tent extends more than a borough block.

This year, Puoci said, they are changing the layout of the tent so that there are two entrances beside each other and they feed into an area where the growers are between each line.

There are other innovations as well.

While the Saturday schedule of the two-day event has to this point closed in the late afternoon, this year they have added a concert at night.

The Gilroys, a West Chester band that performed at the Mushroom Festival in the late 1990s, will present a concert from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Liberty Place Market parking lot.

The Saturday night concert does not stand alone in entertainment, however.

Throughout the two days there will be music from Steve Liberace, Morel, Cicco, Houston & the Dirty Rats, Maribou and Penny Samar.

The site for all the entertainment, like the Gilroys performance, will be the Liberty Place parking lot.

The highly popular eating contest, which always results in plenty of cheering and excitement, will return on Sunday, Sept. 7, at noon.

It kicks off with the EN FUEGO! Eating Contest, which pits contestants against each other to see who can endure the hottest sauce.

Last year there was no single winner because all of those who entered were able to endure the heat to the end. This year, Puoci said, there will be six levels of heat, and the sauces will be even hotter.

Then, immediately following the EN FUEGO contest, the eating contest – hosted by WXTU’s Jeff Kurkjian and Frank Pastella – will begin.

The competitors will see how many mushrooms they can eat in 12 minutes.

There will be five prizes ranging from $1000 down to $200 as well as plenty of hoopla.

The cooking contest, which also attracts emotion and excitement takes place over two days and awards the prize to the cook who is adjudged to have created the best dish out of a bag of food products they have been given.

The festival launches into this cooking event early, with the first round of contestants starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

It continues on Sunday when the final winner is selected.

In the course of the two days, talented chefs including William Atkins, Jennifer Behm-Lazzarini and Dana Herbert will also share their skills through demonstrations at the cooking tent on Union Street.

The car show on south Broad Street returns with many classic cars on display on Saturday. The collection of antique cars runs almost to the bottom of the hill, and has always attracted many spectators.

This year, the special feature is the presence of the cars from the Marshall Stream Museum in Auburn State Park near Hockessin. This museum houses the world’s largest collection of operating Stanley steam cars with other antique vehicles like a Model T, a 1916 electric car and 1930s Packards.

There is also something new at the children’s area at the west end of the festival in addition to the traditional bouncing huts and swings: At the festival this year will be the creators of Legos – children’s building kits – who will have for sale a model they have created of a mushroom.

The vendors and restaurants that line State Street attract many enthusiast visitors to the festival, and this year there are 220 vendors that will offer everything from toys, to dog food, to sculptures and crafts. Visitors invariably leave with their arms full of unique items they have purchased.

Additionally, some of the usual favorite attractions from previous festivals return as well including mushroom soup, souvenirs, “Cute as a Button” contest, the fried mushroom booth and painted ceramic mushrooms. The Mushroom Festival runs the length of Kennett Square’s State Street and several of the side streets that connect to it.

The cooking events are centered on Union Street, while the souvenirs, cars and growing demos are located down Broad Street. The children’s activities are at the west end at Lafayette Street.

The Mushroom Festival is organized and carried out by an 11-member board that meets all through the year for the planning of the event. It depends on scores of volunteers to make it successful.

The admission to the Mushroom Festival is $5, which can be paid at any of several entrances at feeder streets along the way.

Parking is $5 at Chatham Financial, a large lot on McFarlan Road, and at the Kennett High School parking lot. Buses will transport those who have parked at these large parking locations to the festival.

The Mushroom Festival continues through rain or shine. Visit Mushroomfestival.org or the event’s social media pages for more information and an updated list of attractions and activities.