The first weekend in May used to be the morel mushroom hunting weekend in Ottawa. The Midwest Morel Festival came to Ottawa from 2011 to 2019. It hasn’t happened since, because it hasn’t had a major sponsor. There was also the problem of local mushroom hunters picking the morel site a few days ahead of the event and leaving little for the paying participants to get.
It was the city’s only profitable festival when Mayor Dan Aussem announced in 2020 that it wouldn’t happen that year. It hasn’t happened since. Donna Reynolds with the Ottawa Visitors Center is hoping to have it again next year.