Thanks to Mlive for this:
ANN ARBOR, MI — Ann Arbor has officially declared the month of September to be Entheogenic Plant and Fungi Awareness Month, and a psychedelic mushroom festival is on tap to celebrate.
EntheoFest is a new event that will celebrate psilocybin mushrooms and entheogenic plants.
Ann Arbor City Council voted 10-0 to approve the resolution Monday night, Aug. 16, in hopes of increasing awareness and understanding of the potential benefits of psilocybin mushrooms and other psychedelic plants “for mental health, personal and spiritual growth, as well as honoring the longstanding ancestral practices and relationships with these entheogens.”
This event is free to the public, featuring local leaders, activists and entertainers from around the state and country.
The Entheofest will begin at 11:11 a.m and conclude at 2:22 p.m. “The Entheofest’s aim is to bring the community together to mobilize for the decriminalization and celebration of plant medicines and fungi in the State of Michigan,” said Entheofest’s Jim Salame.
Last September 21, 2020, Ann Arbor City Council voted to make entheogenic plants and fungi the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority, effectively decriminalizing them.
That includes ayahuasca, ibogaine, mescaline, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms and other natural compounds with hallucinogenic properties deemed illegal under state and federal law, though not synthetic compounds like LSD.
To celebrate the anniversary of Ann Arbor’s decriminalization move, this will be a “sacred plant and mushroom festival.”
Entheo Fest is planned to take place on the University of Michigan Diag, the same venue as the long-running Hash Bash marijuana rally that happens each April.
September 20th is also recognized as Global Mushroom Day. Julie Barron, one of the organizer’s of the event said, “Entheofest celebrates how far we’ve come in Ann Arbor, but we have much more work to do. We want to encourage further activism and share the message about the powerful healing and spiritual properties of these plants. Our ancestors have been using these plants for millennia and scientific research suggests that entheogenic plants/fungi are an effective tool for treating addiction, recidivism, trauma, post-traumatic stress symptoms, chronic depression, severe anxiety, end of life anxiety, grief, and cluster headaches.”
The Entheofest Planning Committee is honored to have Barking Dog Darryl Brown as the keynote speaker with former Fox 2 News Anchor, Anqunette Sarfoh as the Master of Ceremonies. Music from Ann Arbor’s Brennen Andres and Friends. Other esteemed speakers in the lineup include author and researcher William Leonard Pickard, SAPS President Moss Herberholz, Michigan State Senator Jeff Irwin, Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney Eli Savit, House of Representative member Yousef Rabhi, Decriminalize Nature’s Larry Norris and many more!
Barking Dog is a First Nations Civil Rights Leader, has served as a Native American delegate at two Democratic Conventions, is a three-time award winning atavistic surrealist painter (one from the National Congress of American Indians), and is currently on the governor-appointed board of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.
In addition to the aforementioned politicians and many notable psychedelic student activists, personalities, other drug policy reform organizations will be making an appearance. Among them are Michigan Psychedelic Society, Decriminalize Nature Ann Arbor, Decrim Nature Grand Rapids, Decrim Nature Detroit, The Entheo Show, Rick Thompson and the Social Revolution, Jazz Cabbage Café, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), Michigan Dancesafe, The Redemption Foundation, and more.
Funds raised from the event will go to support Decriminalize Nature Michigan.
We neither condone or condemn any practices with entheogenic plants and fungi; however, Entheofest is a celebration of plant teachers and support for the progress being made to decriminalize these substances.
We kindly ask that it is not approached as space for consumption and that attendees remain mindful of university space and others around.
What: EtheoFest
When: Sunday, September 19, 2021
Where: steps of the University of Michigan Harlan Hatcher Grad Library (913 South University ave, Ann Arbor, MI)
Time: 11:11 a.m. – 2:22 p.m.
Cost: Free and open to general public
Contact: organizer Jim Salame 734-355-0136
Homepage
https://decrimnaturemi.org/entheofest/
FB event page
https://www.facebook.com/events/520787815584747
