2026 Halloweeds & Gear Show

John Cowan stands outside in front of a group of people. He is dressed in a hardhat and a tree-climbing harness/saddle. He is speaking directly to the crowd.

Every year during, October’s General Meeting, our members dress up in their spookiest pest-related costumes in a frightful celebration of the work we do: Halloweeds! The meeting on October 28th, 2026 also marked the CGCWMA’s first ever Gear Show. This was a day full of a few tricks and plenty of treats!

Partners showed up dressed as some of the best (worst) pests around. The lineup this year was scary-good, making crowning this years’ winners a troublesome task.

Halloweeds line-up! From left to right: Kenzie L. as Milfoil, Jeanette B. as a spotted lanternfly, Courtney G. as Lamb’s-ear and Beth S. as Alexandra (from Wildwood).
Halloweeds line-up! From left to right: Brendan F. as Canada thistle, Sam L. as Cape ivy, Sarah S. as puncturevine and Christina M. as nightshade.
Sam L. as Count Cape IV (Cape IV)
Brendan F. as Canada thistle.
Kenzie L. as Eurasian Milfoil.
Courtney G. as Lamb’s-ear.
Beth M. as Alexandra (from Wildwood).
Julianne B. as Catsear.
Christina M. as nightshade.
Sarah S. as Puncturevine.
Jeanette B. as a spotted lanternfly.

But winners were indeed crowned. Sarah Shelley snagged 2nd place for her prickly puncturevine costume, and Christina Mead took home 1st place for her punny take on nightshade!

Next came the Gear Show. This was a CGCWMA first! Partners gathered outside to learn about each other’s tools, setups and techniques.

John Cowan showed us the ropes in his climbing arborist demonstration:

John C. gears up for his presentation.

Next, Brendan Fordyce showed us the tools of the trade:

Brendan F. shows off a weed-wrench from Clackamas SWCD’s Weed Tool Library.

Nathan Goodman wowed us with his sprayer setup, including a button-activated boom-sprayer that he built himself!:

Nathan G. explains how his boom-sprayer helps him tackle roadway weeds.

Then, Ethan Coggins gave us the run-down on his of his yellow flag iris-destroying tool…the Tongs of Death!:

Ethan C. talks about how to construct and use Tongs of Death.

The Show was wrapped up with a short presentation by Courtney Comer on the EZ-Ject Lance.

Our General Meetings are open to members of the public. If you would like to stay up-to-date on our CWMA’s upcoming meetings and events, shoot us an email to join our listserv! Be sure to give a short blurb detailing why you’d like to join (it helps us to ‘weed’ out spam).

Thank you to all of our partners for making events like this possible. Here’s to many more to come!