(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!.)
After working with Shawn Newton of Newton Pens to write a a 2023 recap and report card, I was really excited to be able to go this year. This time, I spent most of the time working at the Dromgoole’s tables. Since it was held at a new venue, I decided to do another report card.
Size: According to the Pacific Northwest Pen Show website, there were 31 vendors this year, which is more than the 17t listed on last year’s website. I heard that attendance was about 25% more than the 600+ they had last year, which is great. On Friday, which wasn’t a public pen show day, there was light traffic but Saturday was pretty busy. Sunday was moderately slow, which is expected at most shows. It is still a small show, so the score will be lower, which doesn’t mean it is a bad show, it’s just the only way to compare this size-wise to other shows. Score - 5/10
Volunteers were easy to spot with their blue t-shirts including these friendly folks at the registration table. They roamed the show to check on vendors to see if they needed help, a restroom break, etc.
The hometown stationery shop, Oblation Papers and Press, had several tables that were busy all weekend.
Gotta love Jonathon Brooks’ super organized table layout!
The folks at Letter Writer Social had all sorts of papers, kits and more to help you with your letter writing journey.
It was Bart from Zodiac Pen Company’s first time at the PNW Show! Helper Lexi was keeping cool with her handy fan!
Location: This year, the PNW Pen Show was located in Clackamas, Oregon, a suburb of Portland about 25 minute drive south of downtown Portland and 12 miles or 15-20 minute drive south of the PDX airport. An Uber/Lyft ride from the airport costs about $35/each way. I found out later that there was an airport shuttle at the hotel.
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. The show was held on the weekend of July 12th-14th and this year the weather was HOT (in the 90s F / 32+ C). It was still hot for the 3 days after the show when I was in town too. Score - 7/10
Mark Dwight from Rickshaw Bagworks was roaming the show, supporting his vendors, and also showing off some PNW Pen Show merch, which sold out by midday Saturday (but you can still get them online!)
And yes, his name is Mark Dwight, NOT Rick Shaw! 😃
There was a big backdrop for folks to take pictures. I got a picture of Mark showing off the Rickshaw PNW Musette bag.
Job and April are all set up at the Traveler’s Company tables! What do I spy with my little eye???
Fountain Pendulum with their array of wooden pen and ink holders. You can even get something custom made via their website.
Hotel: This year’s show was held at the Monarch Hotel and Conference Center in Clackamas. Next to the small lobby is a snack bar area where you can also use their microwave. There is also a small seating area next to the reception desk which is also right outside of the hotel restaurant, De Fuego Grille. This restaurant serves South American/Texan fusion food that I heard good things about and had late night dining too which is always a plus. There was also a speakeasy downstairs (more on that later). Free parking was available in their good sized parking lot.
Outside of the Monarch Hotel and Conference Center.
Snacks, microwave and a small business center are next to the hotel lobby and entrance.
The lobby seating area felt a bit too close to both the front desk and restaurant for it to be a viable pen show gathering area, so to my knowledge, no one hung out there.
The rest of the hotel layout is a bit odd. Imagine a square floor plan with an arched hallway connecting diagonally from the lobby. This hallway was the main entry to the show ballroom. It was like a greenhouse, encased in glass and also insanely hot because air didn’t really flow through that hallway since the auto-sliding doors were closed most of the time.
This hallway was only cool if you stood on top of the floor vents - the rest of it was like a sauna. I joked with Larry Dromgoole that it must remind him of Houston, lol.
To get to your room from the lobby, you have to go up 3 steps to get to a single elevator. Stairs are the last thing I want to use after a long, hot day of travel, but I was able to lug my suitcases up without too much trouble. However, if you were in a wheelchair, had a lot of gear, or otherwise unable to navigate stairs because you’re using a luggage cart, you would have to walk around to the other side of the building (or use the hallway mentioned above) to find another elevator (also singular). More than once, I opted to take the stairs because I knew that it would take a while for an elevator to come (thankfully, there were only 3 floors’ worth of rooms, 4 if you count the ballroom level which was below the main floor).
The hotel rooms were somewhat dated, but were otherwise fine. The front desk staff were nice but despite multiple calls over two days, I was unable to get anyone to clean up a broken glass that I had knocked onto the tile floor. I cleaned the floor as best I could and wore shoes in the bathroom area in case there were still microscopic shards of glass on the floor.
The show was located in one rectangular ballroom, which most folks seemed to prefer over last year’s two-ballroom spread. In addition to the show ballroom, there were a couple other rooms where classes were held.
Saturday morning’s view of ⅔ of the ballroom from the Dromgoole’s tables.
Always good to see Shawn Newton again, even if his colorful array of pens keeps tempting me! At least this time he doesn’t need to take notes about the show for me, haha!
Dromgoole’s mascot, Sheldon, was supervising our table setup.
The calm before the storm at the Dromgoole’s tables on Saturday morning. We were definitely swamped most of Saturday!
Last year’s hotel rate was around $220/night which was the highest in the circuit, so this year’s rate of $159/night (plus tax) was much better. One of the drawbacks of this hotel is that it isn’t part of a chain which vendors may have hotel points. I know that some folks stayed at a nearby Courtyard by Marriott so they could earn or redeem Marriott points for their stay. It was a nice that the show negotiated a discounted rate there as well.
The hotel had an airport shuttle but I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know about this until later. It was on the show website’s Venue section, but since I didn’t book the room, I didn’t think to look there. And oddly enough, it's not mentioned on the hotel website either (sadly, the hotel website is almost as dated as their rooms).
I debated whether the score should go up due to the lower cost as well as hotel shuttle availability and single ballroom for the show, or whether it should be lower because of its odd layout, having 3-steps by the lobby to get to an elevator, lack of indoor hangout space, and dated rooms, so I left the score the same since it was mostly a wash. Score - 7/10
Tickets: Ticket prices were the same as last year - $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. Like I said last year, for a show of this size, the ticket price seems a bit steep, especially considering the similarly-sized Arkansas show tickets was $10 for the weekend and the larger St. Louis Show cost$ 10/day.
There was also an additional VIP event which cost $40. The event was held on Friday from 3pm-6pm and included access to a couple of seminars/panels as well as a “Golden Ticket” which the holder could redeem once during the event. Redeem for what, you ask? Good question. If you went to a vendor that displayed a “VIP exhibitor” sign on their table, they would give you a discount. What kind of discount? And on what types of purchases? Good questions cuz the answer is “it depends on what the vendor comes up with”. This led to many folks walking the show floor to see what the vendors’ best deals were before redeeming their ticket, which really amped up the competitive vibe. I get that every vendor at every event is, to some extent, competing with each other for sales, but this just took it up a notch. “Did I offer them a good enough deal? Oh no, now they are going to the next table to find out what the other folks are offering.” All they knew was that their discount should be at least $40 to make up for the price of the VIP ticket.
If a customer chose to use their golden ticket for a discount, the vendor would collect the ticket and, at the end of the event, submit them to the show organizer for the opportunity to get $75 or $50 deducted off a table for next year (only the top 2 submitters would get the discount). From what I understand though, they put all of the tickets into a hat and randomly picked two winners. I heard that the second place winner only turned in one ticket, while others who submitted a handful of tickets didn’t get anything!!
I should also point out that none of the $40 VIP ticket money went to the vendors, so they basically lost money by offering a discount as a VIP exhibitor. So if you were one of those vendors who, let’s say, got 5 golden tickets, they would have lost at least 5 x $40 ($200) worth of income because of this event (they realistically lost more since most vendors gave more than $40 discounts).
If the show wanted to draw in folks on Friday, they could still give folks a VIP experience by (1) making this an “early entry” ticket, since the show wasn’t open to the public on Friday, or (2) by including show goodies like mugs, special lanyards or other swag (maybe from Rickshaw Bags, for example,) as part of that VIP experience. I spoke with several vendors who told me there wasn’t really anything in it for them, other than the opportunity to make some Friday sales. Also, going to shows is expensive enough for vendors as it is, so why put them at a further disadvantage by cutting into their margins? I’m sure the VIP attendees were happy about the discounts but I think it added some pressure for folks to have good sales for the rest of the weekend to make up for the discounts they had to give. Ok, rant over, you get the picture.
Score: 4/10 for the cost of the tickets, but especially for the VIP ticket which put participating vendors on the hook for discounts.
Classes: Last year, the website was never updated with any class information. Thankfully, they fixed that this year and people could register for them ahead of time. There were a good number of different options for classes/seminars and even meetups on Saturday and Sunday, which is a great way for local enthusiasts to meet each other. I also liked that there was a wide range of costs, from free to $80, with most of them in the $30 range. I gave it a higher score because there were (1) more classes and (2) they were on the website. Score - 9/10
One of the sessions you could sign up for was a Pen Show Intro Tour with Mike AuYeung (pictured near the right with a little flag) from the Greater LA Metro Pen and Ink Group (GLAMPIG).
Lisa Vanness taught classes like Fountain Pen Basics and Exploring Ink. (PC:Vanness IG story.)
Nib Workers: There were FIVE nib workers at this show, which I think is a lot (and perhaps too many) for a show of this size. They were as follows (alphabetical by first name):
CY has very steady hands when grinding nibs.
Folks can try out Matthew Chen’s different grinds with the testers below the “Try Me” sign.
Thomas might have gotten a wee bit of ink on his hands!
From what I understand, they were fairly busy on Saturday, but most weren’t busy on Sunday. Even though it’s good for attendees that there were 5 nib grinders (last year there were 4) I didn’t give it a higher score because I think 5 is too many, which might not be as good business-wise for the nib grinders (I apparently said last year when there were 4). Score - 8/10
Food: Lunch wasn’t provided for the vendors (most shows don’t do this), but you would preorder box lunches at the show, which I didn’t take part in (an unenthusiastic “yay” for protein shakes), partly because of the cost which was around $25 for a box lunch. There was a restaurant on site, and also a speakeasy/bar (didn’t eat there, but had a drink) which had live music on some of the nights. Their staff is also dressed in 1920s/30s era clothing, which I found kind of charming, but also weird for a pen show venue.
The hotel was across from a strip mall which had a Spaghetti Factory and a couple other restaurants, as well as a Target (super convenient) and a Costco. There were a decent number of food options within a few blocks from the hotel. The Clackamas Town Center mall was nearby as well. Score - 7/10 for ease of finding food near the hotel.
After Hours/Socializing: There really wasn’t a good place for people to gather and hang out after show hours. The area in the lobby was so close to the front desk and restaurant that it feels like you’re in the way of people coming and going. The speakeasy/bar downstairs wasn’t really conducive for pen show hangouts as there were small tables and live music, which made conversations difficult.
I found out from some of my vendor friends that they were going to hang outside by the pool, which is where I spent my evenings. As always, I had a wonderful time with my pen friends but if you didn’t know anyone, you’d be hard pressed to find a group of pen people hanging out with their piles of pens like you would find at pretty much all the other shows. It would have been awesome if we could have used one of the other conference rooms for an unhosted, post-dinner hang out, with bonus points if they could add that to the schedule so people would know where to hang out. Score - 6/10 mostly because there’s no good place to hang out.
Even if there aren’t great places to meet inside the hotel, there’s always outside! And where there are pen people, there will be smiles and good times!
Overall Sense/Vibe: Like other smaller shows, the PNW show feels more laid back and chill, compared to some of the larger, feeding frenzy type shows like DC and SF. The attendees I spoke with seemed to enjoy themselves at the various tables, rushing off to attend classes, and shopping in the ballroom. The vendors I spoke to had mixed reactions, partially due to the VIP event already mentioned, but also because some had good sales while others did not. It’s always tough to gauge whether a vendor’s performance is due ballroom location and “flow” (where people tend to go after they walk in the door) or due more competitors or something else.
Vendors appreciated that there was a security guard walking the show floor on all of the days. They were all very nice and friendly (and one was from my old neck of the woods) and some even showed interest in what the vendors were selling. The ballroom was also locked up at night, with a security guard stationed inside.
Loved that this security guard wrote in one of the notebooks at the Graystorm Studio table!
Like last year, most of the attendees were from the Portland area, but also from Washington, other parts of Oregon, and Northern California (as well as Canada, UK and other parts of the US). I’m glad to see “locals” (I consider anything within a 6-hour driving radius or short flight as “local”) supporting this show with their attendance.
Nik Pang was writing people’s name tags while sporting this awesome sticker on his hat which read “Life is better at pen shows”, courtesy of Lexi!
Diane and Steve Curnow made the drive up from California so they could bring all these paper goods. Their show notebooks sold out quickly too!
Seattle, WA resident, Myburgh of Graystorm Studio is talking through the different parts of a notebook that one can customize.
You can choose from these premade notebooks with covers made from Japanese, Nepalese, Italian and other materials, or you can custom design your own notebook, which takes a few weeks to create and ship.
Roste Chocolate House was on my list of places to visit in Portland, so I was super happy to see them at the show. Almost all of their products are vegan (so my vegan friends were extra happy) and everything I bought was delicious (and instantly devoured).
The Ink-a-Pet family (minus a sibling and a parent from the picture) brought all their super cute ink vial accessories!
It was hard enough picking the vial holder - picking the accessories to go with them was next to impossible!
I enjoyed watching the 3D printer do its thing (it takes a long time to make each one, so this was primarily for demonstration purposes, not made-to-order.)
Modern Analog Pens is a Portland-based vendor who gives new life to vintage pens and pen-related products like earrings, bracelets and lanyards.
The PDX Pen Club hosted an ink testing station as well as …
This super cute “no kill” ink shelter, where folks could “adopt” ink samples that others have left behind.
Score - 7/10 Love the chill vibe and seeing the local vendors in the mix.
Other stuff: The overall feeling I got was that while there was a lot of hard work and good intent behind the show, it also felt a bit disorganized and odd at the same time.
Some examples:
- VIP Event Communication - Some vendors knew about it ahead of time, but didn’t know any of the details until Friday and some vendors didn’t even know about it at all, so didn’t participate. And then changing the rules around getting a discount for turning in the most tickets irked some of the folks who had a lot of tickets.
- Sunday Hours - Many vendors came down to the ballroom just before 9am on Sunday because the show website said the hours were 9am-4pm. But their Instagram post has the show starting at 10am, which might have explained why it was pretty quiet in the ballroom that morning. Needless to say, that didn’t go over very well.
- Website needs to be reviewed - While I’m glad to see that classes/seminars were listed on the website this year, the website still showed them as being planned and will be posted soon. The VIP event still had text graphics that said “venue coming soon”. And as mentioned, the Sunday show hours were incorrect on the website.
Hours should be accurate and anything that says “coming soon” or “will be posted soon” should be reviewed.
- VIP sessions should be in their own room - In addition to having access to vendors on Friday, the VIP ticket also gave folks the opportunity to hear from folks in the industry, including a panel hosted by Lisa Vanness (see below).
Lisa Vanness of Vanness Pens chaired a panel with Matthew Chen, Nik Pang and Jonathon Brooks on “Analog and Everyday Life”.
These sessions were held in the ballroom and were broadcast on all of the ballroom speakers. This made talking to customers more difficult as we had to talk over the noise. One of the sessions was also held virtually, via zoom or the like, and that felt even weirder to me (I can’t explain why, but it just felt weird to me) - this was also in the ballroom for all to hear.
Score - 7/10 because it seemed like a good show overall but feels like it needs to figure itself out and be more focused on communication and details, which was also what folks said last year.
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 2024 Pacific Northwest Pen Show scored 67/100, which is one point lower than last year. I knocked down a couple points for the VIP vendor experience but bumped up the Classes score. Just a few things here and there could make this a very solid show. One thing that I hadn’t yet mentioned is that the organizer is eager to get feedback to improve on the show, which is great. This year’s hotel change was in response to last year’s feedback regarding the show location. Feedback forms were given to the vendors so they can make it better next year. I know they want to add more vendors to next year’s show but I really think they need to iron out the kinks before doing so.
All done packing up on Sunday afternoon, Job and April left with fewer boxes than they came with!
Tired after a weekend’s work and packing, Nik Pang (left), Ana Reinart (also my show partner-in-crime and roommate), and I posed for an album cover, coming soon to a streaming service near you (just kidding.)
While it may sound like this was a terribly run show, it really wasn’t. I think some of the ideas may not have been thoroughly thought through, but it wasn’t for lack of effort nor due to bad intent. All that being said, it seemed like everyone, including myself, was glad to be there. Thank you to Dromgoole’s for giving me the opportunity to work at this show with you - I had a great time!
I was mostly good but I couldn’t resist the Blackwing x Traveler’s Company set and after several agonizing attempts, picked out some cool Ink-a-Pet accessories for myself (and perhaps some for a giveaway…)
I’m bummed to be missing the upcoming DC pen show, but look forward to hearing all about it and seeing everyone’s hauls! See you at the SF Pen Show in August. Until then, stay safe and stay inky!
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