Fetish Con XXIV Proves 24 Years Later It Is Still Going Strong

The Vendor Floor Was the Real Star

Walking the trade show floor felt like stepping into a marketplace built entirely around craftsmanship. Spring Hill Wood Works had one of the standout setups, cases packed with hand-painted paddles, custom collars, and color-coordinated leather goods that showed off serious woodworking and leatherworking skill in one booth. LilFox Toy Box brought an equally impressive spread, with rows of finely finished wooden implements hanging alongside leather goods and furry accent pieces, all displayed with the kind of care you’d expect from a specialty boutique rather than a convention table.

The Kink Shop rolled in with  display cases loaded floor to ceiling with color-coded flogger and paddle options, giving shoppers an easy way to browse by material and style. Rope vendors had their own dedicated section entirely, with dye work that ranged from solid jewel tones to full rainbow gradients, plus decorative hardware pieces mounted above the booths like art installations. Between the leather crafters, the woodworkers, and the specialty rope makers, this felt less like a trade show and more like a juried craft fair for an incredibly specific and skilled niche.

General retail vendors filled out the rest of the floor with everything from novelty games to costuming accessories to a full range of apparel, giving attendees plenty to browse between the more specialized artisan booths.

Costuming Brought Serious Creativity

If you wanted proof that this crowd takes presentation seriously, the red carpet and photo backdrop areas delivered constantly. Attendees showed up in elaborate group looks built around shared color palettes and themes, from all-red devil-and-demon coordinated groups to superhero send-ups that clearly took cues from mainstream comics while putting their own spin on the material. One standout group leaned into a full superhero lineup complete with custom capes, color-matched boots, and painted body work that held up under convention lighting for hours at a time.

The costuming wasn’t limited to formal photo ops either. Walking the vendor hall, attendees in fully coordinated group outfits posed in front of vendor booths just as often as they did at the official backdrop, turning the whole convention floor into an impromptu runway. The commitment to detail, from matching accessories down to coordinated makeup, showed the same level of dedication you’d see from any serious cosplay group at a comic convention.

The George Pérez Superheroine Showdown

Now in its 18th year, the George Pérez Superheroine Showdown remains one of the convention’s signature events, and it’s easy to see why it’s stuck around this long. The competition draws direct inspiration from the legendary comic artist’s work and gives attendees a stage to show off superhero and superheroine costumes built with real attention to comic accuracy. This year’s lineup included a packed roster of contestants representing recognizable archetypes reworked with original names and design touches, all competing in front of a crowd that clearly knew its comic book history. Sponsor banners for XSiteAbility framed the stage, and the energy in the room during the announcements and judging rivaled any costume contest you’d see at a general pop culture convention.

Swag Was Everywhere

One thing that stood out across the whole weekend was just how much free product vendors were putting into attendees’ hands. Between sample packs from lubricant and personal care brands, branded tote bags, promotional flyers, and giveaway items stacked at nearly every booth, it felt like nobody left the floor empty-handed. Larger vendors ran their own branded promotions throughout the weekend, with signage promoting bonus perks for signing up or making a purchase on-site. Smaller specialty vendors got in on it too, tossing in extras with purchases or handing out branded bags and stickers just for stopping by the table. For an event built around a dedicated fan base, the vendors clearly understood that a little extra generosity goes a long way toward building loyalty.

A Community With Serious Staying Power

What really comes through after spending a weekend at Fetish Con is the sense of community. This isn’t a crowd of first-timers wandering in for novelty. Longtime attendees greeted vendors by name, swapped stories about past years, and clearly treated the convention as an annual reunion as much as a shopping trip. The convention’s founders built this event from a small circle of collaborators back in 2001, and that grassroots energy is still very much present in how the vendor relationships and attendee friendships play out on the floor today.

Twenty-four years is a long time for any convention to keep its audience coming back, and Fetish Con XXIV proved exactly why it’s managed to do it. Between the artisan vendor floor, the elaborate costuming, the George Pérez Superheroine Showdown, and the sheer volume of giveaways and swag packed into every corner of the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, this year’s show delivered the kind of weekend that keeps a convention’s community loyal for decades. For anyone tracking Florida’s convention calendar, Fetish Con remains one of the state’s most enduring and distinctive events, and based on this year’s turnout, it isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

For Individual photos click here. Fetish Con XXIV