(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!.)
This is the third year of the Pacific Northwest Pen Show (“PNW” for short) and the third hotel. Here’s last year’s recap for reference since I will make a lot of comparisons. Like last year, I spent most of the time working at the Dromgoole’s tables. Any time a show is held at a new hotel, I do another report card, so here we go.
Hello, Portland!
Size - There were 25 vendors this year, which was less than last year’s 30. I think there were some vendors who had last minute cancellations. Many of last year’s vendors came again this year, several did not, and there were some new vendors this year too.
I don’t have attendance numbers for the show but it felt pretty good except for Sunday. Friday, which wasn’t a public pen show day, was busier than it was last year. Saturday was definitely busy, especially for the first four hours of the show, but there was fairly steady traffic until 3 pm or so. Sunday was quite slow, which is expected at most shows, but it was slower than last year’s Sunday. Thankfully, Saturday sales seemed to make up for a very low Sunday turnout.
It is still a small show, so the score will be lower than for larger shows, but it doesn’t mean it is a bad show, it’s just the only way to compare this sizewise to other shows. I debated bumping it up from last year because there seemed to be more attendees, but this score is primarily about show size, not attendee numbers (which is how I’ve chosen to define it). This is one of those scores that won’t change much unless there are significantly more vendors. 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.
Folks lining up in the lobby on Friday afternoon to get their VIP passes.
There were signs behind the registration desk for the seminar and class schedules.
The calm before the storm at the Dromgoole’s tables on Saturday morning. We were definitely swamped most of Saturday!
Shortly after the doors were opened and the room is filling up.
The other side of the Dromgoole’s ink/paper/Rickshaw shelves - you can see that there’s a good sized crowd - it remained this way until the early afternoon.
This is the rest of the ballroom that is hard to see from the back wall where the previous two photos were taken.
Dromgoole’s had exclusive Bigfoot products by Rickshaw Bagworks (most of which were sold out by midday Saturday) and this show exclusive Retro 51!
Dromgoole’s exclusive Monteverde Ice Dragon and Ice Queen inks were released at the show.
What a treat to see Aviva Maï Artzy of The Washi Station since I saw them at the 2025 CA Pen Show!
The Writer’s Shoppe had inks, pens, and their “Cat-alog” for you to log your inks!
Location - This year, the PNW Pen Show was just around the bend from the Portland Airport. Portland doesn’t have as big of 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 11th-13th and this year the weather was toasty (in the 80-90s F / 32+ C). It got even hotter for the few days after the show too. Score - 7/10
I was so excited to meet Andy Penske and Liisa Roberts of Wonderland 222 because I’ve been transcribing Meditations in one of their A5 notebooks for the past 5 years! This was their first time at the PNW show and were glad they made the trip from Tacoma, Washington!
My friend Kelly raved about Blackwater Craftworks and made me smell her new notebook (if you like leather, which I do, you’d love the smell,) so I checked them out on Sunday. It was tough picking from their designs!
Hotel - This year’s show was held at the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel in Portland, next to some of the runways of the PDX airport. Despite its proximity to PDX, airport noise wasn’t too bad. It is 30 minutes northeast of downtown Portland. An Uber/Lyft ride from the hotel to downtown Portland (I picked Powell’s Books as a destination) starts around $35/each way (depending on time of day).
View outside my hotel room window.
Unlike last year’s hotel, there was a very open and roomy lobby with a lot of places to sit and hang out. There was also a hotel restaurant which had decent food at decent hotel prices. Unless you had a car or took Uber/Lyft, there weren’t really any food options outside of the hotel. Free parking was available in their good sized parking lot.
There were a few corridors out of the lobby - one that led to the elevators (and past the business center, pool, and gym), another that led to other ballrooms (unrelated to the show), and the last which led to the show. There was a space outside of the ballroom where people could buy drinks, snacks, and lunch boxes, as well as attend talks, seminars, or take a break at one of many tables. The ballroom was rectangular with vendors along the walls, and two rows of vendors in the middle.
This way to the show!
One of the VIP sessions in progress.
This was taken during the above VIP session - these folks are enjoying some VIP snacks while watching the presentation.
One of the tables outside the ballroom where folks were taking a break, having snacks, sharing inks, etc.
The rate for this year’s hotel was $186/night (before taxes), which is higher than last year’s $159/night rate, but is at a better hotel, near the airport (which usually costs more,) and part of the Marriott hotel chain. Definitely on the higher side, but I also think this is the direction that most hotel prices are going in the past couple years. Aside from the hotel being more convenient for folks flying in, the hotel being a Sheraton means that folks can earn or redeem Marriott points for their stay (compared to last year’s non-chain hotel). (Note: I didn’t see anything on the show website about a discounted hotel rate, so it’s possible there wasn’t one.)
Another perk was the hotel’s airport shuttle, which was mentioned on the show website and on Marriott’s website & app. All it took was a quick call to the hotel and within 10 minutes, a shuttle appeared. Very handy.
Overall, the show hotel was solid and their staff was friendly and accommodating. Definitely better than last year’s hotel by leaps and bounds, but I’m not sure that’s saying much :-) Score - 8/10
Tickets - I don’t know if the online prices were cheaper than at the door, so I’m only listing door prices from the website. Ticket prices were the same as last year - $30/day at the door. Two day passes were $50 (for both days) 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 shows charge $10-20/day.
Note: The following paragraphs are from last year’s recap (with minor edits.)
There was also an additional VIP event which cost $40 online and $45 at the door. The event was held on Friday from 3pm-6pm and included access to some seminars/panels; this year, there was also a cash bar and happy hour-type snacks. In addition, VIPs got a “Golden Ticket” which the holder could redeem one time during the event. Redeem for what, you ask? Good question. You would ask each vendor what kind of special or discount they were doing. 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 $40-45 to make it a good value 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 a chance to get $75 or $50 deducted off their table for next year. Vendors turned in their tickets and hoped that their ticket would get picked. This means that a vendor could make a bunch of sales (with discounts) and still end up not getting picked.
I should also point out that none of the VIP ticket money went to the vendors, so they basically lost money by offering a Friday discount. 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 probably lost more since many vendors’ discounts were more than $40).
If the show wanted to draw in folks on Friday, they could still give folks a VIP experience by (1) making this a special ticket that included not only Friday entry (since the show wasn’t open to the public on Friday), but also Saturday and Sunday entry, and/or (2) by including show goodies like mugs, special lanyards or other schwag (maybe from Rickshaw Bags, for example) as part of that VIP experience, and/or (3) an after-hours special meet-n-greet with vendors. 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 and a slim chance at a discount for next year’s table, so several of them didn’t try too hard to be there for the event. 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.
Side note: I appreciate that you can buy tickets online, not just for the show, but for the various events and classes too.
Score - 4/10 for the cost of the tickets, but especially for the VIP ticket which put vendors on the hook for discounts.
Classes/Seminars - There was a good variety of classes and seminars, some of which were held in the area outside of the ballroom. I also liked that there was a wide range of costs, from free to $89.
While there was a list of “speakers” on the website, it wasn’t clear whether they were VIP speakers or seminar/class instructors. I also didn’t see a VIP session schedule, so I don’t know now who was presenting and when.
List of classes & speakers for Saturday and Sunday.
One of the sessions you could sign up for was a Pen Show Intro Tour for $5. In addition to getting early access to the show, they got an introduction to each vendor’s story and offerings, which is very neat. This is something only smaller shows like this one can do - it would be impossible at larger shows because the tour would take hours.
I kept the score the same as last year because there was a good selection of classes that one can sign up and pay for ahead of time on the website. Score - 9/10
Nib Worker - Last year there were five nib workers at this show, which I felt was too many for a show of this size. This year, there were four and I think that was the perfect number because they were definitely busy all day Saturday and somewhat on Sunday as well. They were as follows (alphabetical by first name):
I absolutely love this picture of these 4 inky-fingered nib workers - L to R: Kirk, Thomas, Matthew, Gena, who had recently washed their hands so theirs were a wee less inky.
Could the show have benefitted from five nib workers? Maybe for Saturday, but definitely not on Sunday. Upping the score because I think this is the right number for this show for now. Score - 9/10
Food - Lunch wasn’t provided for the vendors (most shows don’t do this), but you could buy box lunches or snacks right outside the ballroom. I didn’t partake cuz unenthusiastic “yay” for protein shakes, but it was convenient for sure. As I mentioned above, aside from the hotel restaurant, there weren’t any restaurants nearby, and definitely not walking distance, especially with it being so hot. Score - 6/10
After Hours/Socializing - Last year, I mentioned that there wasn’t really anywhere for people to gather after hours and that was remedied with the new hotel. After returning from dinner on both Friday and Saturday nights, there really weren’t any non-vendor folks who hung out (shout out for the few traveling regulars who came out, as well as a couple of the show volunteers who had dinner and hung out with us on Sunday). I brought down around 100 pens (inked, for sale, show & tell) and had no one to show them to (well, no one who hadn’t already seen them at recent shows.)
I’m not sure if it’s because it’s primarily a locals show, aka they weren’t staying at the hotel, or if they didn’t know that hanging out at/near the bar was “a thing”, or if they thought hanging out at the tables outside the ballroom was the extent of it. It would be great if there were some post-show events that would encourage folks to meet each other, especially vendors and others who were working the show.
I thought this pen-themed drink menu was cute.
This was Sunday night at 10:30pm, so it was a little deserted but I didn’t see anyone busting out any pens or writing at the restaurant area on Friday or Saturday night either. This is practically unheard of at all the other shows.
One of the areas in the lobby where groups of folks could hang out.
More lobby seating.
Score - 6/10 because there wasn’t really an after-hours scene that wasn’t a bunch of vendor friends (like me!!) hanging out.
Overall Sense/Vibe - In the past, the PNW show felt a bit more laid back and chill, compared to some of the larger, feeding frenzy type shows like DC and SF, but this show’s Saturday was definitely more frenzied than anyone expected. It seemed like most/all of the vendors had good sales. Since it was a one-ballroom show this year, it was easy to maneuver around and see every vendor multiple times - so flow wasn’t really an issue.
There was at least one uniformed security guard walking the show or standing guard outside of the ballroom on all of the days. They were all very nice and friendly. The ballroom was also locked up at night, with a security guard stationed outside.
As I mentioned earlier, there were lots of blue-shirted volunteers roaming the show, checking in on vendors, and answering questions. Shows that have volunteers tend to result a better vendor and attendee experience than those that don’t.
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. I’d love to see more of them staying at the hotel, or at least staying late enough at night to hang out.
Once again, the local Ink-a-Pet family brought all their super cute ink vial accessories!
Some of the new Ink-a-Pet offerings at the show - pen rests which held your favorite Ink-a-Pets!
The PDX Pen Club hosted an ink testing station as well as a “no kill” ink shelter where folks could “adopt” ink samples that others have left behind.
I mean, look how cute this is!!
Love the super simple guidelines for the “no kill” ink shelter!
Another vendor local to Oregon is the Seaside Pen Shop - they had a wide variety of pens, papers, inks and accessories, including some hard-to-find items too.
Score - 7/10
Other stuff - The overall feeling I got was that they put in a lot of hard work and good intent behind the show, but there were also some aspects that felt a bit odd at the same time.
VIP Event is weird - This is one of the few shows that has this type of VIP event that (1) doesn’t give them ANY access to the other days (you still have to buy a pass for Sat, Sun, or both), (2) nor early access to other days (most shows have weekend passes which are not only discounted but gives early access), and most importantly, (3) vendors who participate are out money (in the form of discounts.)
VIP sessions location - I’m glad that the VIP sessions were held outside the ballroom instead of inside, like last year. It made it easier for them to hear the speakers and it didn’t distract folks shopping at the show.
Conflict between sessions and shopping - The VIP event is a 3 hour event and there were sessions scheduled for most of those 3 hours. But you also can shop before anyone else and potentially get discounts. So there is an inherent conflict between whether to attend the sessions or do some shopping. This is no different than regular show hours and classes/seminars during show hours, but for a special event that you had to pay extra for, it’s hard for people to decide what to do. And since I wasn’t able to find out what the Friday schedule of sessions were or when they were (they weren’t on the website), it’s hard to figure out when to shop and when to session.
Thought - Make Friday a half (or full) show day, and have a Friday evening VIP event where there can be a panel or meet & greet with other attendees and vendors.
Voucher didn’t make sense - There were flyers advertising $25 food vouchers, which folks could buy for … $25. Other than the vague statement that voucher sales benefit the show, there was zero incentive for anyone to buy the voucher, especially since they wouldn’t get any change if they didn’t order $25 worth of food/drink. To the average reader (including me), it just felt like a weird way to get money, if the show gets the change or something. However, what most folks don’t realize is that pretty much every show has some minimum dollar limit that they have to spend. Shows have to spend money on some combination of guaranteed room nights, food/drink, and/or ballroom/space rental. I’m sure PNW spent a lot of money on these vouchers and they had to recoup their costs by selling them. I think more vouchers would have been sold if they cost less than $25; then they wouldn’t have been out nearly as much money and there would be an incentive for people to buy them.
I couldn’t figure out why I should buy one.
Sunday Hours - This might be the only show where Sunday hours are earlier than the other days. Saturday hours were 10am-5pm but Sunday was 9am-4pm. At most shows, vendors tend to go out for their dinners and stay up late afterwards on Saturday night, so an earlier Sunday start wasn’t as welcome, especially since the attendance was significantly lower (dozens of people in the ballroom versus hundreds on Saturday). I would suggest shorter hours (with a discounted price) to get folks to come on Sunday, and so vendors weren’t sitting around waiting/hoping for customers to come by. An earlier end time could also mean that some folks could fly out on Sunday, instead of Monday.
Announcements - On Saturday afternoon, when there were still quite a lot of people in the ballroom, the organizer turned on the microphone and “sssshhh” until the room got quiet. I had more than one vendor tell me that they did not appreciate being “shushed” because it interrupted any sort of sales discussions and made them (vendors and attendees) feel like kids in a classroom. It didn’t help that there was a half sentence thanking vendors and attendees for coming, followed by several minutes of thanking volunteers and telling stories of how they came to be penabled. Don’t get me wrong, volunteers are important, but without the vendors, there wouldn’t be a show. Most shows don’t even have mic’d announcements, and when they do, they keep it short and sweet, so folks can get back to shopping, and they don’t shush the room either - that really left a bad impression on several vendors who couldn’t wait to tell me how they felt.
Event Communication - I spoke with several vendors who said they didn’t get a lot (any?) communication from the organizer other than confirmation of their tables/payment. For example, some of them knew about the VIP event 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. Ditto for the Friday night vendor taco dinner, so some folks had already made plans, or didn’t even know until they were told about it later. Another example was the lack of communication about vendor interviews that they would be filming (I didn’t write about this because I don’t actually know what the filming was for) - people told me that they were asked if they’d be willing to be on camera for an interview and were given maybe 10 minutes to prepare, all while setting up, talking with VIP customers, or just being tired from many hours of travel.
Good/great sales - Pretty much every vendor I spoke with was happy with their sales numbers. Saturday was a phenomenal day for practically everybody which made up for Sunday’s meager attendance (and sales.) Comparing it to other recent shows, there may have been fewer attendees at PNW but they were ready to buy and at all price points - and that makes vendors very happy and mostly willing to overlook the other parts of the show that they didn’t love as much.
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 the last two years.
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 2025 Pacific Northwest Pen Show scored 68/100, which is one point higher than last year. The better Hotel score is cancelled out by the lower resulting Food score. Unless they change hotels again, I don’t see the Food score changing. The VIP event is the biggest thing that is causing the low Tickets score, which would go up to at least a 7 if they made some fundamental changes to that event (or getting rid of it altogether.)
As I mentioned last year and again this year, the organizer continues to be eager to get feedback to improve on the show, which is great. The hotel change this year was once again due to feedback from last year’s show hotel. 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.
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. What definitely helped was that most folks did very well at the show. All that being said, it seemed like everyone, including myself, was glad to be there.
Clockwise from top left: A6 leather notebook cover from Blackwater Craftworks, stickers and ink from Oblation, several notebooks (and free stickers!) from Wonderland222, Sashiko pen from Custom Nib Studio x Schon Dsgn, and washi tape and stickers from The Washi Station. (Not pictured are pens that I also had ground/tuned by Gena.)
Not shown because I forgot to take pictures - hanging out at dinners and spending time in the lobby and at the show with friends this weekend. Broken record over here, but pen friends are the best part of pen shows!
Thank you to Dromgoole’s for the opportunity to work at this show with you - I had a great time! (Cameo of a Bigfoot sticker and show pen sleeve from Rickshaw Bagworks.)
I’m bummed to be missing the upcoming DC Pen Show, Atlas Sidewalk Sale, and Hello Houston, but look forward to hearing all about them and seeing everyone’s pictures and posts. Of course, I will definitely be at the SF Pen Show at the end of August and hope to see you there. Until then, stay safe and stay inky!
