{"id":7177,"date":"2014-09-01T12:21:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T16:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=7177"},"modified":"2014-09-01T12:55:58","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T16:55:58","slug":"musroom-festival-remains-a-labor-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=7177","title":{"rendered":"Mushroom Festival remains a labor of love"},"content":{"rendered":"

A behind the scenes look: \u00a0Bringing charitable support & family fun to the community<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kim Chiomento, <\/b>Staff <\/b>Writer, The Times<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Working<\/a>

Working to make the 2014 Mushroom Festival the best ever: 2014 Mushroom Festival Festival Director, Kathi Lafferty and Honorary Chair Terry Forte as they work on this year’s event.<\/p><\/div>\n

KENNETT \u2013Terry Forte knows mushrooms. Her dad, Peter Alonzo Sr., and grandfather, Alfonso Alonzo, started growing mushrooms in the early 1940’s. Also, she has been married 47 years to her husband, Rich, a mushroom grower who is also the Vice President of Sales for Lambert Spawn which provides technical service for the mushroom industry.<\/p>\n

Forte has been volunteering behind the scenes and a part of organizing the Festival from its earliest days.\u00a0 Her warmth, enthusiasm and humor is certainly contagious. \u00a0Her husband, Rich, has served multiple terms on the Festival\u2019s Board of Directors and has been instrumental in bringing the very popular grower\u2019s exhibit to the event.<\/p>\n

When it was announced at the Spring 2014 Mushroom Gala that Forte and her husband were to be named the 2014 Mushroom Festival\u2019s honorary chairs; it was a perfect fit.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt was a total surprise; I was absolutely shocked,\u201d she says, \u201cI had no idea people knew how much I love this event and am so HONORED to be in this role.\u201d\u00a0 The Fortes are being handed the reins by Jo-Beth and Mark Thompson, honorary chairs of the highly successful 2013 Festival.<\/p>\n

To put things in perspective, twenty-nine years ago the Festival was less than a block long, held one afternoon, and featured simple activities like a mushroom picking contest, small sampling of food and meeting local growers.\u00a0 Fewer than 100 people attended.<\/p>\n

\"MushroomFest1\"<\/a>

Rich & Terry Forte are the 2014 Mushroom Festival Honorary Chairs.<\/p><\/div>\n

Today, the weekend-long event expects crowds of close 100,000 people, spans nearly a mile in length and takes the efforts of hundreds of well-organized volunteers.\u00a0 Popular events include the Friday night kick-off parade, the Soup & Wine Tasting tent and national fried mushroom eating contest.<\/p>\n

The Festival is officially managed and run by The Mushroom Festival, Inc., but as Forte will tell you, Festival Director, Kathi Lafferty, is the heart and soul of this huge event.\u00a0 \u201cKathi is nothing short of amazing.\u00a0 She LIVES the Festival for most of the year, and her time is 100% volunteered.\u201d\u00a0 Forte also has great praise for Carla Lucas, the Festival\u2019s secretary and photographer, \u201cShe is an awesome resource and works very hard behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lafferty, a Kennett Square native, whose family owns Lafferty & Sons, Inc. Mushrooms has been coordinating the Festival for 11 years.\u00a0 \u201cThe life-long friendships and relationships are what helps me get the job done and why I love being a part of this wonderful event, \u201c she says, \u201cIt\u2019s great to pick up the phone and personally know the person at the other end of the line who also wants the related Festival logistics to go as well as I do. The people of Kennett Square are just terrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about her thoughts on the Festival, Lafferty, whose commitment to the Festival remains stronger than ever proclaims: \u201cI LOVE a party!\u00a0 When the Festival gets here I just do not want it to end.\u201d\u00a0 Despite exhaustion from a year of hard work and planning \u201cThe adrenaline just keeps you going!\u201d<\/p>\n

Forte says her favorite part of this annual event is seeing all the faces, \u201cI love the familiar faces and the new faces experiencing the Festival together.\u00a0 To see families having a great time, how the Festival has grown, and our vibrant town doing so well is a real joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forte would like to help spread the word that the proceeds from the festival do not return to the mushroom industry, but rather, the local community.\u00a0 2004 was the first year Festival starting awarding charitable grants; Forte and Lafferty estimate the total amount raised was $5,000.<\/p>\n

The 2013 Festival awarded $72,000 in grants to local non-profit organizations. Each grant application is reviewed by a committee that focuses on the applicant\u2019s mission, non profit (501C-3) status and the potential grant\u2019s impact on the local community.\u00a0 Grants are announced at the Festival\u2019s annual Spring Gala.<\/p>\n

Forte will continue to be actively volunteering during this year\u2019s Festival but also gets to enjoy some special privileges too.\u00a0 She is looking forward to riding in the parade with her two granddaughters at her side.\u00a0 For the record, Forte LOVES mushrooms, \u201cWhen I have friends over, I insist on featuring at least one dish containing mushrooms,\u201d Her favorite?\u00a0 \u201cSausage stuffed mushrooms…absolutely delicious!\u201d<\/p>\n

Together, The Mushroom Festival, Inc. and Kennett Area Restaurant & Merchant \u00a0Association (KARMA) brought the highly publicized, first annual, \u201dMidnight in the Square\u201d New Year\u2019s Eve celebration to the heart of Kennett Borough.\u00a0 This popular family event features entertainment and a giant illuminated mushroom \u201cdrop\u201d to help those attending countdown and ring in the New Year.<\/p>\n

However, Midnight in the Square is in need of support.\u00a0 Lafferty estimates that it costs $25,000 to put-on this family friendly evening; costs include security, sound system, event set-up & clean-up. Like the Mushroom Festival, it is expected to experience robust growth and is currently actively seeking sponsorship partners.<\/p>\n

Individuals can also help support Midnight in the Square by purchasing Christmas ornaments featuring a picture of the giant illuminated Mushroom and related celebration.\u00a0 Ornaments will be available for purchase ($10) in just a few weeks at the Mushroom Cap \u2013 State Street, Kennett Square (www.themushroomcap.com)<\/a><\/p>\n

For a schedule of Festival events visit mushroomfestival.org<\/b><\/a>.\u00a0 To learn more about Midnight in the Square sponsorship opportunities contact Kathy Lafferty: 610-925-3373.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A behind the scenes look: \u00a0Bringing charitable support & family fun to the community By Kim Chiomento, Staff Writer, The Times KENNETT \u2013Terry Forte knows mushrooms. Her dad, Peter Alonzo Sr., and grandfather, Alfonso Alonzo, started growing mushrooms in the early 1940’s. Also, she has been married 47 years to her husband, Rich, a mushroom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[4475,1982,4474,365,438],"class_list":["post-7177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-charity","tag-community-2","tag-events-2","tag-kennett-square","tag-mushroom-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7177"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7182,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7177\/revisions\/7182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}