by Anessa Olson

Every year, the Ames Public Library Friends Foundation hosts Pub Fiction, the most literary pub crawl in Ames! Participants visit participating locations downtown, each with its own theme and exclusive drink special. Pub Fiction is on Thursday, August 10, with check-in between 5:30 and 6:30 at the Ames Public Library, and tickets can be purchased at the Library or online at bit.ly/PubFiction2023. All participants must be 21 or older.

All of the money raised by Pub Fiction goes to support the Ames Public Library Friends Foundation. The Friends support the library by helping to fund our wide variety of educational and entertaining programs, books, movies, audiobooks, and many other formats and services, small and large. Recently, the Friends have funded a set of reading glasses of various strengths, available to be borrowed if you forget yours at home, as well as our upcoming program about Iowa’s Black pioneers (August 3 at 7pm.)

Pub Fiction participants are also encouraged to dress up as a book character if they wish. Costumes are optional, but they definitely increase the fun. Figuring out other people’s costumes is like a game in itself, plus you can try your acting skills getting into your own character.

Dressing up in costume does not need to be complicated or expensive. Many popular characters wear street clothes that you may already have in your closet, and it is not necessary to precisely match a character’s look to have fun. “Casual Cosplay: Character-Inspired Fashion You Can Wear Anywhere” by Krystal Everdeen offers practical tips for creating simple costumes and fandom-adjacent styles on a budget. Simple alterations to base pieces can add a little more flair. Spider-man Miles Morales made his first costume using red spray paint and a black hoodie, and you can too.

If you want to explore more complex costume possibilities, “The Hero's Closet: Sewing for Cosplay and Costuming” by Gillian Conahan offers a comprehensive beginner’s course on sewing your own. “The Costume Making Guide: Creating Armor & Props for Cosplay” by Svetlana Quindt has step-by-step instructions for armor and prop-making techniques. 

Whether you assemble your costume using your closet or your sewing machine, one thing is certain: Pub Fiction will be the book-themed party of the year, and will raise money for a great cause. So come out, show your support, and have a good time!