Illinois State Morel Hunting Championship: Morel Mania

Last May some friends and I headed to Henry, IL for the Illinois State Morel Hunting Championship ("Morel Mania"), which was mentioned in this thread. The festival has a website, but it hasn't been updated, and information on this year's event seems hard to come by.

Anyone have any inside information on whether/when this year's event is going to happen? Cathy 2, perhaps?

Hi,

It is the first weekend in May. I have received some info. I will post later tonight.

Regards,

Hi folks - I have information about the upcoming morel hunting festival in Illinois. Tom said the site would be updated within the month, but if you want to make plans now, just head to http://fungifest.com/2007/morel-mania-a ... dates.html to view the dates.

Morel hunting is fascinating. In researching this topic in Illinois, I wonder how the festival is allowed to function (unless it's on private land) b/c the Illinois Dept of Natural Resources states that it's "unlawful for collection contests to be held on any State site" in regards to the collection of edible fungi, nuts and berries. Searching the site itself cites arrests/citations made for individuals who are found with "bags of morels" - of course outside of festivals.

http://www.dnr.state.il.us/legal/adopted/110.pdf

So do restaurants and purveyers depend on "wild" morels gathered on private properties?