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Mesick Mushroom Festival Organizers Welcome Rain

Not everyone loves this rain, but it could be perfect for the Mesick Mushroom Festival.

Organizers from the Mesick Lions Club are busy setting up for the kickoff this Friday.

While today is definitely not the day to be out riding your bike or going for a family walk, this rain plus the warm up we’re expecting over the next few days is a perfect combination for this weekend’s Mesick Mushroom Festival.

"With the rain were very likely to harvest morels in the next five days," says festival organizer Lester Barnes.

Barnes and others are busy setting up the festival grounds, and although it’s not an ideal day to be working outside, the rain will help more morel mushrooms pop up.

"Weather plays a significant role in whether those mushrooms are here at that time, so the rain is really kind of a blessing today. Whether we like working in it or not," says Barnes.

The festival draws thousands every year, bringing a huge increase of traffic through places like Ellen’s Corners.

"It’s huge. It starts off our summer. We get probably five to ten thousand people over the weekend," says Ellen’s Corner owner Kim Ellens.

So far downstate mushroom hunters have had more luck than those up here, but Ellens isn’t worried about that impacting the festival.

"People usually come up for the weekend anyways. A lot of locals families come up, so its kinda a family gathering," says Ellens.

It’s creating family memories, regardless of the weather, that makes the Mesick Mushroom Festival successful.

"When my kids were growing up my parents would find mushrooms and we’d drive up from Lansing and my kids always found morels and that’s because my father was always finding them before [to hide for them]," says Barnes.

The festival starts friday and runs through sunday.

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