Hamilton’s Mushroom Extracts has participated in the Telluride Mushroom Festival in Telluride, Colorado for the past several summers. They began building costumes for the festival mushroom parade in 2022 and won “Best in Show” costume in 2023. The competition became fierce. A friendly rivalry was established when Hamilton targeted an artist / mycologist group from Colorado Springs (four-time winners of the contest) and produced a tongue-in-cheek conspiracy film that fired up the battle for the coveted “Best-in-Show” award.

The film was a big hit at the 2024 festival and was played again in 2025, exciting intense interest in the cos play elements of the festival event. This short film tracks the challenge, concept, design and making process as well as the results of this year’s competition.