A Guide to Every Morel Mushroom Festival In 2015

Until you've had these tasty and tender 'shrooms lightly pan fried in butter, you can't possibly understand why people get this worked up over a fungus. 

Morel mushrooms are a way of life in Northern Michigan and over much of the Upper Midwest in the springtime, when they pop up along moist tree stumps in the forests that range over the country side.

Communities throughout the region tie their identity to this mushroom, and host huge morel hunting competitions and festivals starting in April south of here, and in May up north.

A Chicago man who goes by the nickname "Mushroom Man Rob" has compiled a great list of all the Morel Festivals from Kentucky north to Boyne City, most of which are within a day's drive of Grand Rapids.