Ann Arbor psychedelic shroom fest plans return to University of Michigan

ANN ARBOR, MI — A festive celebration of entheogenic plants and fungi, including psychedelic mushrooms, is planned to return to the University of Michigan campus.

 

Organizers have scheduled Ann Arbor’s second-annual Entheofest for 1:11-4:20 p.m. Sept. 18 on UM’s Central Campus Diag. The event now awaits UM’s official approval.

“We’re very enthusiastic about it and it’s going to be bigger and better than last year, and it’s going to be continuing for the next many decades,” said Chuck Ream, a local psychedelic activist and secretary of Decriminalize Nature Michigan, one of the groups organizing the festival.

Thousands of people from across Michigan and as far away as California gathered on the Diag for the inaugural edition of Entheofest last September, some wearing mushroom-themed attire and T-shirts with messages such as “Make America Giggle Again” and “The Future is Dope.” The event included speakers, musical entertainment and educational booths and this year’s event is planned to be similar but bigger.

Thousands attend first-ever psychedelic shroom festival in Ann Arbor

The event takes place in the same outdoor space where thousands gather each April for Ann Arbor’s annual Hash Bash marijuana rally and there’s some crossover between the crowds, though perhaps less smoke at Entheofest.

Entheofest celebrates the anniversary of Ann Arbor’s move to declare entheogenic plants and fungi the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority, effectively decriminalizing the substances at the city level. That includes ayahuasca, ibogaine, mescaline, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms and other natural compounds with hallucinogenic properties.

In addition to Decriminalize Nature Michigan, Entheofest is sponsored by the Student Association for Psychedelic Studies at UM, Michigan Initiative for Community Healing, Michigan Psychedelic Society and Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

Skylar Hawthorne and Nicolas Glynos, leaders of the Student Association for Psychedelic Studies, said one of their main objectives is to engage students and the surrounding community in discussing the therapeutic uses of psychedelics and scientific research surrounding psychedelics. To that end, Entheofest is an important advocacy event, they said.

Organizers describe the festival as a celebration of sacred plant medicines, but they ask that people not consume psychedelics at the event. There also are to be no vendors and no buying or selling of products at the event.

UM permitted last year’s Entheofest on the Diag with UM police standing watch. Police reported no issues or arrests.

Similar to last year, student organizers are discussing the event with UM Student Life officials and approval has not been granted yet, UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said.

Given that last year’s event went smoothly, organizers are confident the event will be approved after they meet with UM officials later this week to go over plans.

The speakers list for the event includes a mix of activists and elected officials, including state Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor; state Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor; Ann Arbor City Council Member Jeff Hayner, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit and Chief Assistant Prosecutor Victoria Burton-Harris.

Currently scheduled to emcee the festival is Jim Salame, a local artist, activist and deputy director for Decriminalize Nature Michigan who also serves on the board of the Michigan Psychedelic Society.

Salame was inspired by plant medicines when he came up with the idea for Entheofest in late 2020, his bio on the festival website states, noting he spent several years assisting cannabis patients at Ann Arbor’s Om of Medicine dispensary and has witnessed the healing powers of plant medicines that have helped him with his own autoimmune issues.

The keynote speaker for Entheofest this year is Moudou Baqui, a leader of activist group Decriminalize Nature Detroit who has been a student in the origins of human consciousness since an early age and has studied shamanism, metaphysics and entheogenic plants while traveling across the globe, his bio states. He’s described as a student and practitioner of ethnobotany and martial sciences and a certified reiki healer, urban shaman, behavioral specialist and educator.

See the full speakers list.

Salame noted Ann Arbor last year officially declared September to be Entheogenic Plant and Fungi Awareness Month and Entheofest is a way to continue to raise awareness about the therapeutic benefits, including to help military veterans and others with PTSD and depression. There will be a bigger veteran presence this year, he said.

Organizers also are gearing up for a ballot initiative to put the question of decriminalizing entheogenic plants and fungi before Michigan voters in 2024, Salame said.

In the meantime, they’re going city by city, with Detroit and Hazel Park following Ann Arbor’s lead in approving decriminalization measures in the past year. Some of the other cities they’re hoping follow next include Ferndale, Lansing, East Lansing, Ypsilanti, Kalamazoo, Jackson and Traverse City.

“We’re going to get the psychedelic plants legalized much faster than we were able to legalize cannabis and we’re awfully enthusiastic because there doesn’t appear to be any opposition,” Ream said, adding he expects after several victories in cities across Michigan then it’ll happen statewide.

Why Ann Arbor officials decided to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, plants

“The value these plants can give to society is incalculable,” Ream added, describing entheogenic plants and fungi as a safe alternative to hard drugs that are killing people. “Mother Nature has given us everything we need.”

On the Saturday before Entheofest, two of the event’s main sponsors — the Mission marijuana dispensary on Main Street and the Redemption cannabis brand — are teaming up to give away free product samples at the dispensary, Salame said, noting Mission also will be the Entheofest headquarters and will be selling festival T-shirts starting in early September.