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Thousands of people, including families and couples, young and old, packed downtown Morgan Hill this weekend for the 41st annual Mushroom Mardi Gras.

The festival had been shuttered for the last two years due to COVID-19. The event celebrates a major cash crop for Santa Clara County, while raising money for local schools.

A total of 17 scholarships, totaling $17,000, were awarded to local high school students for their continuing education. Since 1984 the festival has awarded 1,190 students scholarships worth $1.25 million dollars.

Mushrooms have a long history in Morgan Hill, well before the sprawling housing developments and suburban creep from San Jose. About a half-dozen farms in the region produce nearly a million pounds of the vegetable each week, according to local growers. About 90 percent of the crop are the common white button and crimini or baby portabella varieties found in the grocery aisles of Trader Joe’s and Safeway.

For Matt Davis, along with his wife and two kids, the first stop was the “Water Ballerz” ride in the Munchinkin Land section of the festival. They made sure to take their 5 and 10-year-old daughters there first to help burn off energy before walking through the rest of the festival.

Louis Hansen contributed to this report.

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