September 16, 2022 - National Mushroom Month | National Play-Doh Day

Welcome to September 16th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate fascinating fungus and a dough reinvented. The largest organism on Earth isn’t an animal. It isn’t a tree, either. Surprisingly, it’s a fungus called the honey mushroom that grows in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest. The mushroom has a system that covers nearly 2000 acres, both above and below ground. It’s also estimated to be around 8,000 years old, which makes it one of the oldest living things on the planet. For the fresher kind, folks can visit the mushroom capital of the world which is found in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Here they produce more than one million pounds of edible mushrooms a day. This town is gearing up to celebrate National Mushroom Month with a festival that draws a crowd of 100,000! When Joe McVicker first discovered a clay that would pick up soot from wallpaper his invention had an important job. But when furnaces changed from coal to oil, this wallpaper cleaner was out of work. Joe was inspired to put the clay in the hands of some preschoolers, renaming it Play-Doh and adding some color. But when Captain Kangaroo featured the toy on his new CBS show, Play-Doh became a household name. Inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 1988, it’s hard to imagine a world without this creative invention. On National Play-Doh Day, celebrate the spirit of fun that still fuels our kids’ imaginations. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices