Dear Neil Young,  

We, the people of Telluride, love you, your music and your vision.  

We also love mushrooms — so much so that we have a mushroom festival every year in mid-August devoted to the art and science of mushroom culture.  

The Telluride Mushroom Festival has been going for 40 years straight. We draw a creative and eclectic crowd of scientists, chefs, psychonauts and artisan herbalists.  

The concert that your producers are proposing for mid-August in Telluride poses a direct threat to our beloved gathering on Aug. 16-20.  

Our homegrown festival of 800 people is small in comparison to the crowd of 8,000 expected for your concert.  

We are writing to let you know that if your concert goes forward late in the festival week it will be devastating for our small, but mighty, local event.  

We are respectfully asking you to please book earlier dates for your performance in town park. In August, Monday the 14th, Tuesday the 15th and even Wednesday the 16th will be less impactful than Thursday, Friday or Saturday. 

The Mushroom Festival Parade is a much loved annual event staged on Saturday afternoon. The parade features fungi inspired costumes, drumming and an outpouring of creative pageantry. The parade culminates in town park where our high-spirited drum circle stirs the crowd for another two hours until 7:00 p.m.  

Thank you for taking the Mushroom Festival into consideration. 

Appreciatively,  

Your fans at Telluride Institute, Telluride Mushroom Festival and the community