The Southwest Costumers Guild is a loose and informal social group of persons interested in all facets of historical, cultural, science fiction, fantasy, and humor costume and cosplay. Members are often seen on stage and behind the scenes at Science Fiction Convention masquerades, historical reenactment events, street fairs and theatre. SWCG is central Arizona's chapter of the International Costume Guild.

Our Website is now hosted by Costume.org!

E-mail us at:  southwestcostumers@gmail.com.

Index
Newsletter
Costumers Calendar
SWCG Activities
Hints and other "How To" Articles

Randwulf's Smartphone Pouch - Free sewing pattern from SWCG VP Randall

Join the Southwest Costumers Guild

Recruiting and PR Materials:
"Renaissance Faire" Foldover Flyer
(Featuring a practical belt pouch pattern)
Quarter-Page Flyer
Bookmark
Poster/Flyer with Tear-Off Response Cards

SWCG Bylaws

 
SWCG members receive our newsletter, "Cactus Needles" by e-mail.
A few weeks after its initial publication, we post Cactus Needles to this website for all to enjoy.

Current Issue -  October 2026
Back Issues (All the way back to the Cactus Needles premiere in 1994)



Cactus Needles is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please print the newsletter and give it to your friends, but print the entire newsletter and don't make any changes or charge any money. Go to www.creativecommons.org to view the license. Individual articles and pictures belong to their authors. If you'd like to reprint an individual article or picture, please e-mail southwestcostumers@gmail.com for appropriate permission.

November 7,-8, 2026 - Arizona Romanian Festival at St. John the Baptist Romanian Orthodox Church, 3749 West Behrend Drive, Glendale AZ. Food and Music by local artists. SWCG members will gather to visit the festival at 1PM on Saturday*

November 8, 2026, 10-4 - Bookish Market to benefit The Book Blossom Foundation at Arizona Science Center, 600 East Washington Street, Phoenix. Regency theme - come in costume. Sense & Sensibility watch party, merchants. https://www.visitphoenix.com/event/sense-%26-sensibility-regency-market-%2B-watch-party/159688/

November 13-15, 2026 - TusCon 53 at Doubletree by Hilton Tucson Airport, 7051 South Tucson Boulevard, Tucson. Guests include author Rebeca Roanhorse, artist Galen Dara and musician Tim Griffin with toasmaster Linda Addison. https://tusconscificon.com/

November 15, 2026, 11-5 - Tempe Medieval Market at DarkSide/Restaurant Huachinagago 805 South Farmer Avenue, Tempe. (Park behind BoSa Donuts.) Swap tent, vendors, garb & more.  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10213607543300603&set=gm.1277123301119316

November 13-15, 2026 - Anime Arizona at Phoenix Convention Center. https://www.animearizona.com/

November 1-14, 2026 - Pinners Arizona! craft show at Westworld in Scottsdale, Arizona. "Learn, Create & Connect at the nation's best creative event!" https://pinnersconference.com/pages/arizona?srsltid=AU7gw4U-V5Y1Zie-LNkqGuIyGFvHe16qgChW4XOf9wfzeyBMsM4ee8_I

December 12, 2026, 10-3 - LibCon West at the Glendale Public Library Main Branch, 5959 West Brown Street. This is a free, all-ages event about embracing fandom of all kinds! Meet talented authors and artists, enjoy cosplay, explore vendor booths, and dive into crafts and activities. It's a day filled with endless entertainment and boundless creativity! Look for the Southwest Costumers Guild meet and greet tent.

January 30, 2027, 10-3 - Tempe FanCon at the Tempe Public Library, SWC Rural Road and Southern Avenue, Tempe. Each year in January, the Tempe Public Library brings together fans from all over the valley for a celebration of all things cosplay, comics and pop culture for a fun and memorable experience. Fans can enjoy this free annual family event jam-packed with local artists & authors, costume contests, games & activities, photos ops with cosplayers, prizes, over 80 vendors and delicious food from local food trucks. Fans of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Anime, and more are invited to gather for the Tempe FanCon in costume for a celebration of pop culture. https://www.tempepubliclibrary.org/event-calendar/tempe-fancon  Look for the Southwest Costumers Guild meet and greet tent.

January 30, 2027 - PHX Met Con at Metro District, 9610 North Metro Parkway West, Phoenix. (Formerly known as Superhero Saturday.) Presented by the Phoenix Police Sergeants and Lieutenants Association, this curated, family-friendly pop culture and community event brings together fans, families, cosplayers, artists, exhibitors, food trucks, first responders, local leaders, and community partners for a day rooted in creativity, connection, and impact.

February 6-April 4, 2027 (weekends plus Presidents Day) - Arizona Renaissance Festival, 12601 East Highway 60, Gold Canyon, Arizona. https://arizona.renfestinfo.com/

February 19-21, 2027 - Taiyou Con, Arizona's anime convention at Mesa Convention Center. https://www.azfandom.org/cons/taiyoucon.html

February 22-28, 2027 - End of Trail at Ben Avery Shooting Facility, NWC I-17 and Carefree Highway, north of Phoenix AZ. The Single-Action Shooting Society's annual tournament of cowboy action shooting. The event features a "Sutlers Row" with merchants to help build up your wild west/victorian/steampunk costumes. https://endoftrail.org/

March 4-6, 2027 - SewZona at Rawhide Event Center, 5244 South 48th Street, Chandler AZ https://rawhide.com/event/sewzona/

March 5-7, 2027 - Kikori Con anime con at Little America Hotel, Flagstaff. https://www.kikoricon.com/

June 4-6, 2027 - Phoenix Fan Fusion at Phoenix Convention Center. https://www.phoenixfanfusion.com/

September 3-5, 2027 - Tucson Comic Con at Tucson Convention Center. https://tucsoncomic-con.com/

CASFS Book & Media Social

Your Webmaster also organizes a monthly activity of the Central Arizona Speculative Fiction Society's (CASFS) Book and Media Social.  We get together once a month to talk about a pre-selected book, film or other media experience for a bit. After that, conversation can go anywhere. We meet at 7PM on the third Tuesday of every month at the Denny's restaurant at the northeast corner of 35th Avenue and Bethany Home Road in Phoenix. We run a Zoom meeting in parallel to the in-person one, so you can participate even if you can't get your corpus to Phoenix.

Check out the CASFS Book & Media Social Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1602983896683877, the AZ Fandom Facebook Group and the CASFS web page at http://casfs.org/book_social.html for directions to the meeting or the Zoom link or e-mail books@casfs.org

Upcoming:

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