Telluride Institute

We are asking for donations to refurbish the Amanitamobile which hasn't run in several years, is not street legal, and needs a number of fixes to make it presentable and able to last for another 44 years. See Updates below.

Thank you to all who have donated so far. We are proud that it's been lots of small donations from festival family who care about the parade and everything we do fungal. My buddy Brendan Sheahan of Paonia and I, Art Goodtimes of Norwood, are looking forward to getting the Amanitamobile running again and spruced up so it can lead the parade for 44 more years. Your contributions help. Please but the word out. We're over a third of the way towards our goal and whatever comes in, we're gonna have a great new parade leader this year, with your help...

The Telluride Institute has been running the Telluride Mushroom Festival for the last couple decades. As one of the original managers that started the event in Telluride, I began using my 1971 red Toyota HiLux pickup to lead the parade, after painting it with white spots. As the vehicle aged and stopped running, I donated it to the Institute. It was repainted once, but was stored outside for several years.

Last year, after healing from several cancers and moving to a new place in Norwood with a carport, the Institute let me move it there. But it's in pretty sad shape. My mushroom buddy Brendan Sheehan and I would like to refurbish the truck, get it running again (if we can), get it licensed and insured, improve the jerry-rigged tied-down mushroom statue and get a better system for loading and unloading it.

We're hoping to raise $9000 to cover the cost of all these improvements so the truck will last another 40+ years. Because it's not an item in the Institute budget, we thought to turn to our many loyal mycophiles for help in getting this done.

If you've enjoyed the free parade and would like to help sustain the Amanitamobile into the future, please donate to this campaign to refurbish the Amanitamobile.

Thank you, Art Goodtimes, festival steward & poet-in-residence