Mycology week in Gäddede, August 2026

The longest event in this year's calendar of the Swedish Mycological Society lasts seven days. Mykologivecka i Gäddede runs from 23 to 29 August 2026 in Gäddede, a settlement in the northern part of the Jämtland region, right by the Norwegian border.

The format of a mycology week differs from a festival, and the difference is worth understanding before travelling. This is not a public event with stalls and tastings but a working gathering: participants go out into the field, collect material, identify it in the evenings and document the localities. Weeks like this often produce a genuine increase in knowledge about the distribution of species in poorly surveyed country.

The location explains the choice. Gäddede lies far north of the main centres, in a zone where boreal forest gives way to mountain terrain, and it is an area with far less fungal data than southern Sweden. The end of August falls there at the height of the season, because higher up and further north the season both starts and ends earlier than in the lowlands.

The society's 2026 calendar runs to eleven entries spread from March to the end of October and shows how such an organisation works across a whole year. It includes an illustration meeting, courses devoted to narrow taxonomic groups, a European conservation mycology meeting in Uppsala in April, and three separate training dates for fungaväktare, the volunteers who monitor localities of rare species. The spring gathering on Öland in May was marked as fully booked.

Registration for individual entries goes through a form on the society's site, and the opening dates for registration are announced separately for each event. For a visitor that means one thing: the calendar is published many months ahead, but places can be limited and some entries close before the season begins.

Final day of the mycological week

The Gäddede Mycology Week was jointly organised by Sveriges Mykologiska Förening and the Jämtland County Administrative Board. Accommodation was at Pilgrimshotellet and the workroom at Saga. Participation cost SEK 1,900, while full board and lodging ranged from SEK 3,000 to 6,540 by room type. SMF’s mycology weeks serve collecting and identification; records go to Artportalen and noteworthy vouchers to public herbaria.