(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
I was hoping to attend this year’s newly launched 2023 Pacific Northwest Pen Show (aka PNW Pen Show or PNWPS) a couple weeks ago but unfortunately I had a conflict. I wouldn’t usually do recaps for shows I didn’t attend but this time I had an offer that I couldn’t refuse (and no, it didn’t involve a horse’s head, lol). Shawn Newton of Newton Pens offered to do some “reconnaissance” and notetaking at the show and April Wu from PLOTTER/Designphil also took a bunch of photos and I thought, sure, why not! While this will follow my Pen Show Report Card format, this is based on information from Shawn, April and others. Hopefully, it’s obvious when I’m speaking from my point of view versus on behalf of others. Anyhoo, without further ado…
Size - According to the Pacific Northwest Pen Show website, there were 19 vendors but Shawn thinks there were more like 25 vendors, spanning 50 or so tables. Their Instagram post said there were 644 people that attended, which sounds like a great turnout for a show of this size. It seems that everyone was busy (always a good thing for ANY show, big or small, new or seasoned). There was a good mix of vendors, makers, nib grinders, ink and paper. It is a small show, so the score will be lower, which as I’ve said many times before, doesn’t make it a bad show, it’s just the only way to compare this size-wise to other shows. Score - 5/10
Kelly from show sponsor Oblation Papers and also of The Stationery Cafe podcast along with April was busy the whole weekend!
Not a surprise Oblation was busy - look at these beautiful paper products!
And these pens too!
Dan of Enigma Stationery, along with his family, came to the PNW show and…
Brought these gorgeous special edition pens made especially for the PNW show!
Jonathon Brooks and all of his colorful pens - how on earth does anyone pick just one?!?
Taccia always has some stunning pens with them!
Ian Scarborough, aka Urushi Ian, talking to a customer about his urushi work.
Location - The PNW Pen Show was located in downtown Portland, Oregon, which was a 15 minute Uber/Lyft ride from the airport in light traffic and cost about $40/each way. Portland doesn’t have as big an airport as some of the bigger cities (like DC, SF, Chicago, etc.) and may not offer as many flights, which can mean pricier flights and/or layovers.
There is a lot of stuff to check out in Portland (which is why it’s still on my list of places to visit), a lot of which is within walking distance of the show. And the weather in the PNW in the summer is usually warm and sunny (thankfully the smoke from the wildfires didn’t impact the air quality that weekend). The show was held on the weekend of July 8th and 9th with really great weather. I know that homelessness and crime are issues that have been plaguing Portland (and other cities too) - I heard that if you stick to the more touristy areas, neither were issues as the hotel is right in the middle of the touristy part of downtown. But definitely be aware of car break-ins, so don’t leave ANYTHING of value in your car, even if it’s in the trunk. Score - 7/10
Hotel - The show hotel was the Embassy Suites Portland Downtown. Like the name implies, each room is a suite, with a small living room, bedroom and a bathroom (Shawn said his room had a big bathroom). Several folks said that the beds were uncomfortable but attractive (which doesn’t really help). There is a nice restaurant on site and breakfast was included and was tasty, with an omelet station and buffet. It was nice to hear that the hotel staff was good too (having recently traveled a bunch, that’s not necessarily the case with many hotels right now). There's a huge parking garage across the street for hotel parking (self-parking was $45/night, valet $55/night), but I was told that it was “scented” and not in a good way, lol.
Front of the Embassy Suites Hotel.
Hotel lobby looks amazing - look at all those pillars (and all that room)!
The show was spread across two ballrooms, which isn’t always ideal, but it also wouldn’t have worked out very well if all the tables were in one room because it would have been too crowded. The volunteers also made sure that people knew about both ballrooms and helped usher folks from one to the other to ensure that vendors in both ballrooms got traffic. They also checked in with vendors to see if they needed help, water, a break, etc. Shawn said that he was able to leave his table a few times to check out the show, which I know he greatly appreciated.
One of the ballrooms where the show was held.
Another side of the same ballroom.
The other show ballroom.
In addition to the two show ballrooms, there was also another room with tables for folks to hang out and take a break. That’s a great way for people to relax, recharge and even meet other pen folks doing the same.
I see journaling!
When I was looking into possibly attending the show, I believe it was around $220/night, which is the most expensive rate on the US pen show circuit (I think the next most expensive show hotels are in the $160-170 range). The non-show rate dropped to $170 at some point, but if you booked early, you likely wouldn’t get a refund of the difference. With taxes and fees, that’s easily another $70+/night more than the next most expensive shows and more than double the least expensive show hotel, which would be Dallas).
I know that this was primarily a two day show, so one might justify the high hotel rate with only needing to stay just 1-2 nights, instead of 3-4 with some of the bigger shows. But for folks like myself, who may be thinking of staying longer to sightsee, the high cost was definitely a factor. The price of hotels is one of the drawbacks of having a pen show in a city’s downtown, and why many shows aren’t located in the heart of the cities for which they are named. Score - 7/10
Tickets - $25/day online, or $30 at the door. Two day passes were $45 (for both days) online, or $50 at the door. $10 per day for students with ID and kids under 10 were free. For a show of this size, the ticket price seems a bit high to me, especially considering the similarly-sized Arkansas show tickets were $5/day and the larger St. Louis show cost $10/day. There was also confusion over online ticket confirmation, as the email receipt came from a PayPal account that made no mention of the show, nor what dates you bought your tickets for. Instead, folks got an email from the organizer’s consulting firm “Got Your Back Solutions” and several folks said they initially thought they had gotten scammed or hacked. Score - 6/10 primarily for the cost.
Classes - I'm not 100% sure what classes were available or at what cost (the website was never updated with this information). Shawn said there were some, including a forensic handwriting expert who gave a seminar, but we don’t have any details, sorry! Considering it was the show's first year, I didn’t expect a lot of classes/seminars, so it’s nice that there were some. The low score is largely due to lack of information on the website. Score - 6/10
Nib Worker - There were four nib grinders at this show, which is a lot for a show of this size (especially since it is a new show). They were Gena Salorino, Kirk Speer, Matthew Chen, and Thomas Ang who came all the way from London. From what I understand, they were pretty busy most of the weekend. I didn’t give it a higher score because 4 seems like too many, which is good for attendees but not as good business-wise if more grinders decide to attend. Score - 8/10
Matthew Chen was one of the nib workers doing grinds at the PNW Show.
Overall Sense/Vibe - The folks I reached out to told me that they got very positive vibes from the show. Everyone seemed very happy, cool, and also busy on both sides of the tables. The show was generally well-organized and well-run. I saw lots of happy posts on IG and elsewhere that folks had a great time at the show - for many of them, it was their first show, so yay to happy first show experiences!
At 5pm on Saturday (when the show closed), attendees were sent out and vendors got an additional half an hour to pack up/clean up before they locked the ballrooms and had security guards in place. Vendors appreciated that because they didn’t have to rush customers out and it also gave them time to leisurely wrap things up for the night.
Most of the attendees were from the area, but also from Washington, other parts of Oregon, and Northern California (as well as Canada, UK and other parts of the US). I firmly believe that pen shows need the “locals” (anything within a 6-hour driving radius is “local”, or short flight) to attend and spread the word in order for it to be successful, so it was good to see so much support from folks from the PNW and West Coast areas.
PNW Local Calvin (with parents in tow) of Ink-a-Pet had a great time at his first pen show!
Look at these adorable ink vial holders, with accessories too!
Larry Dromgoole along with Kelly and April before the mad rush on Saturday.
Score - 7/10
Food - As mentioned previously, there was a free hotel breakfast. Lunch wasn’t provided for the vendors (most shows don’t do this, so I’m not surprised). There is a restaurant on site, and the prices weren’t too crazy (which is good to hear) and also a lot of food options nearby, including a lot of food trucks too. Score - 8/10 for ease of finding food in and out of the hotel.
After Hours/Socializing - Seemed like most people hung out on the mezzanine level, but some were also in the lobby with beer and donuts - boy, I’m really regretting not being there! Oblation Papers and Press’ own Vintage Jazz Quartet played jazz during the Saturday Pen Social, which also included hors d’oeuvres. I didn’t get a chance to talk to any attendees but the few vendors I spoke with said that it looked like people were having a good time hanging out in the evenings, but they were too tired themselves to stay up and enjoy the after-show scene. Score - 7/10 based on limited info.
The Vintage Jazz Quartet serenaded the folks during the Pen Social.
Other stuff - The show had door prizes, which is always fun. There weren’t any auctions, but I wouldn’t expect one for a new show, nor for a smaller show (many shows don’t have auctions, so it’s not a ding against them). There was a VIP event scheduled for Friday from 4-6pm before the show, where vendors could bring out their higher tier pens for the pen equivalent of “high rollers”, I didn’t hear anything about this from attendees but heard from one of the vendors that it wasn’t well-attended and didn’t seem to result in many sales. Maybe this might make more sense down the road if the show gets bigger or there is more demand for it.
Vendor communication was good, though they could use some technology help. The website needs to be updated more frequently. As I already mentioned, there was no information on classes/seminars, just that they are being planned and will be updated soon. The website also lacked details on the events. For example the website for the above VIP event says it’s for VIP Exclusive Pen Shopping, with the date/time, there are appetizers/drinks and then a form to RSVP. It doesn’t tell you which vendors will be there, what the format is, does it cost anything to attend, etc. The schedule also had “Community Events” for July 10th (after the show) but doesn’t say what they are. Instead, they had a form asking people what activities they were interested in, so they could organize activities. I don’t know if anyone filled out the form or if they ended up doing anything show-related on the 10th, but when I looked into this, my reaction was “why am I telling you what I want to do at a show and hope that you organize what I pick?” That just seemed a bit weird to me. I understand the desire to help people enjoy Portland but it just didn’t jive with what I expected from a pen show. I did appreciate that they had a list of activities, places to visit/dine, etc. on the website - that’s helpful for folks new to the area.
The show’s Instagram feed seemed to have a decent stream of information, including general pen/stationery facts/tidbits unrelated to the show, but given their small IG following, they should have done some sponsored IG posts to get the word out there. I didn’t see anything pop up in the (many) Fountain Pen groups on Facebook either. I saw that some vendors mentioned that they were going to the PNW show in their IG stories or email newsletters. I heard from several folks that there was quite a bit of chatter online from people who missed the show because they didn’t know about the show until it was too late - hopefully this means increased attendance next year.
Score - 7/10 because it seemed like a good show overall but feels like it needs to figure itself out and be a little more focused on external communication and details.
Report Card:
0-50 Oof, do not attend
51-70 Show is alright
70-80 Show is solid
80-90 Show is pretty darned good!
91-100 REALLY good show and not to be missed
The 2023 Pacific Northwest Pen Show scored 68/100, which is a better score than it sounds. Just a few things here and there could make this a very solid show. A lower ticket price, better website information (a listing of classes would’ve bumped the score for sure). It doesn’t need to be a bigger show to be successful, but it feels like a small & new show that is trying to be and do too many things. “We have events planned” (but with limited details) coupled with “tell us what you want to do” was confusing to me. Ditto re classes/seminars that weren’t listed on the website - I know that they had them, but none of that was on the website. Focus on putting on the show, include details on the website and promote it like crazy.
All that being said, it seemed like everyone was glad to be there and were happy to have a pen show in the Pacific Northwest. Kudos to the vendors who took a chance on the latest addition to an already very full pen show circuit because I heard that they had a good time. I’m hoping I’ll be able to go next year and check it out for myself!
A huge heartfelt THANK YOU to Shawn Newton for being such a great sport and helping make this recap possible! I just hope he sticks with his day job otherwise I’m in trouble, lol!
I’m off the grid next week, but look forward to seeing folks at the upcoming DC pen show. Until then, stay safe and stay inky!
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