Pacific Northwest Pen Show 2024

Sarah here! Last month, I got to ring in the summer with a trip to the 2024 Pacific Northwest Pen Show. This is both the second year of the PNW Pen Show and the second year for me. I attended the inaugural show in 2023.

The show was held on July 13th-14th. Since I currently reside about an hour and a half away, I only attended the show on Saturday, and for a smaller show I think one day is more than enough. I did not attend any classes, seminars, or events either this year or last year. There were some VIP events on Friday, and a full schedule of classes for both Saturday and Sunday featuring around 8 different speakers, as well as a guided pen show intro tour offering advice on what to expect, etiquette when engaging with vendors and their products, etc. I thought this was a wonderful idea that I’ve never seen at either of the two east coast shows I’ve been to.

*Exterior view of the hotel and lobby entrance from the parking lot.*

This year, the show was held at the Monarch Hotel and Conference Center. The new location was, in my opinion, a vast improvement over last year. Clackamas is much less narrow and congested compared to downtown Portland, and much easier to navigate if you’re traveling to the show by car. Parking was great – there was plenty of room in the hotel lot when we arrived around 10am and still plenty when we left at 1:30pm. And it was free! No need to find the nearest overpriced lot or parking garage and walk possibly several blocks to reach the venue. As someone attending the show with a somewhat mobility-impaired family member, I greatly appreciated this. It also felt safer than downtown Portland, which is still contending with a severe increase in homelessness, open-air drug use, and crime. Even in a parking garage, the safety of your vehicle and anything left inside (yes, even in the trunk) cannot be guaranteed. I had no concerns, however, about leaving my vehicle unattended in the Monarch parking lot for any duration.

As I learned from the previous year, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of offerings available even at a smaller show. In preparation, I compiled a small “shopping list” of items that I knew I wanted to pick up if I found them: the new Ferris Wheel Press Leadcast Letters, Wearingeul’s Hades (I can’t have Persephone without Hades), the set of Oblation exclusive inks, this year’s official PNW Pen Show sticker courtesy of Oblation, and any Traveler’s Notebook merch that caught my fancy.

My first stop was the Oblation Papers & Press table to pick up their inks and the show sticker. I love how locally-themed their inks are. Portland Rain is a lovely moody purple-grey that perfectly imagines the gloomy, dreary feel of an Oregon fall. Rose City Rose is a happy pink and refers to Portland’s oldest and most well-known nickname: The City of Roses (which you can read about here if you’re interested). Oblation Olive is a fresh yellow-green to match Oblation’s own color theme. In conjunction with the show this year, they debuted their fourth ink: Sitka Spruce, named for a species of conifer that is native to the Pacific Northwest and known to be the largest species of spruce tree in the world.

*Oblation inks are made in collaboration with Papier Plume, a New Orleans-based shop featuring writing and stationery products, and their own bespoke, hand-poured French inks.*

From there, I hopped over to the Traveler’s Notebook table. Unsurprisingly, it was packed. They brought with them their full array of insert and cover options for both the regular and passport sizes, a variety of accessories and charms, incense sticks and watercolor sets, their new regular-sized Rickshaw carrying pouch, and some Traveler’s Factory exclusive items, like the beautiful Mizuhiki and Yosegi charms. They also had some sample notebooks that customers could pick up and flip through as examples or for inspiration.

I didn’t grab much for myself – just another sheet of Traveler’s Town stickers because it’s my new favorite theme and even though I know I have plenty of sticker sheets at home, my inner 9-year old begs to differ. I did, however, grab the entire TOKYO Limited Edition set for Julian, which has been sold out pretty much everywhere for months.

For me, the true highlight of the Traveler’s Notebook table was, of course, the stamps! I always enjoy a chance to collect new ones or just deck out my new unstamped inserts. I had the pleasure of explaining the appeal of TN as a unique interactive journaling system to my mom, who is completely new to the world of pens and stationery. She was so impressed that she picked up a few inserts to take with her on an upcoming vacation. :)

My next stop was Dromgoole’s to browse their famous ink wall. I immediately spotted the two inks that I wanted from the show: Ferris Wheel Press Leadcast Letters and Wearingeul Hades. I was also excited to find a bottle of Ferris Wheel Press’ Dancing Thyme, a beautiful earthy green with a pun name that I can’t resist. On the other side of the shelf, I found a bottle of Weeping Willow from last year’s Diamine Inkvent Purple edition calendar. If you followed Julian’s Inkvent journey last year, you might remember that Weeping Willow was one of our favorite colors from that collection, so we’re pretty excited to have a full bottle to play with now!

*Front and back of the Dromgoole's ink wall.*

They had a much smaller selection of pens, paper, and other stationery items than I’m used to seeing from them at the larger pen shows, but still a solid assortment. I was almost tempted to grab another pack of Wearingeul’s Cheshire Cat swatch cards, but I reminded myself that I still have two unused packs at home and somehow managed to put them back for another lucky pen friend to find.

I wasn’t planning to pick up any pens at the show but Fate had other ideas. And, as usual, it showed up in the form of the Carolina Pen Company. I initially stopped just to find out if Jonathon Brooks had any fun engraved nibs with him (I’m still in love with the owl engraved nib that I got from him at the Baltimore show earlier this year), but as I was chatting with him, my eyes fell upon a gorgeous matte-finish coffee-colored Charleston. The delicate swirls of rich deep brown and creamy white, with a hint of golden brown shimmer… well, as Julian and I often joke, “he got me again.”

Only this time, he got me not once but twice. No sooner had I decided that the coffee pen was coming home with me when my mom held up another that she had excavated from the pile to show me. And there it was again. The click. Another Charleston made from a material Brooks calls Sucker Punch – a deep translucent blue with bright, eye-catching swirls of glistening gold and pink.

And, as it turned out, he did have a unique custom nib for me featuring the DC Metro Pen Crew logo – a phenomenal group of pen enthusiasts from around the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area. I knew Julian didn’t already have one, and as a local and member of the group, I was certain he would love it.

*Some of the beautiful hand-made wood-cover journals available from Curnow Bookbinding.*

With the primary stops out of the way, we made a few general rounds of the showroom to check out some of the tables we hadn’t fully explored yet and watched a few of the nibmeisters do their amazing work. A favorite new discovery for me was the Curnow Bookbinding and Leatherworking table, featuring beautiful handcrafted journals, notebooks, and covers. I didn’t pick anything up this time – only the commemorative pen show pocket notebook – but next time I see them at a show, I definitely will!

Near the check-in table at the front of the showroom, the PDX Pen Club was hosting an ink testing station. On the table were two sets of pens filled with sample inks from a variety of brands: Sailor, Diamine, Lamy, the four Oblation inks, etc. There were even a few from the Birmingham Pen Company, which I was super excited about as I’m very interested in their inks but I haven’t had many opportunities to test them in person. The table was covered in pen-friendly scratch paper to scribble on.
Next to the testing stations was the cutest display for free ink samples called the “No Kill Ink Shelter.” I’ve heard this has been a popular feature at the PDX Pelikan Hub in the past, so it was fun to see it in person at the show!

*I could easily blow my whole pen show budget here...*

Before leaving the show, we made sure to stop by Roste Chocolate House. They had a tempting assortment of thick chocolate bars, truffles, fresh cookies, and even fresh hot chocolate. I selected a few things made with safe-for-me ingredients (ah, the joys of living with dietary limitations!) to enjoy later. Next time I find myself in Portland, Roste is high on my list of places to visit.

*Everything was SO good and it didn’t last long after I snapped some photos.*

Being so close to Portland, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit my only semi-local stationery shop, Oblation Papers & Press, after the show. It was a short and pleasant 30ish minute drive from Clackamas that took us through some lovely parts of the city of Milwaukie (home of the famous Bob’s Red Mill!).

Oblation is located on a quiet block between Hoyt St. and Glisan St. in Portland’s stylish Pearl District, home to numerous shops, art galleries, restaurants, breweries, cafes, and the world-famous, iconic independent bookstore, Powell’s City of Books. Oblation opened in the district in 1998 and celebrated their 25th anniversary last fall.

The first thing you might notice as you walk up is the Public Typing Station (which I completely forgot to snap a photo of, but you can just barely see it under the right-hand window in the photo of the storefront) -- a table with two chairs and a pair of typewriters set up directly in front of the shop. Whether you’re doodling for fun or need to get something heavy off your chest, passersby are invited to sit down and enjoy the vintage technology.

The physical shop offers a much wider variety of paper, pen, and stationery merchandise than you’ll find at their pen show table. For fountain pen fans, you’ll find a lot of the basics available: TWSBI, Kaweco, Lamy, Pilot, Platinum, Sailor, Esterbrook, and more. They also carry a lot of popular ink brands, such as Diamine, Herbin, Sailor, Iroshizuku, and Ferris Wheel Press. In terms of fountain pen friendly papers, the selection is limited to a few standard options (as pictured), but a solid line-up nonetheless.

Though the shop has evolved over the years, papermaking and letterpress remain a core tradition and a significant part of the business. In fact, as you wander towards the back of the shop, you’ll find a set of windows that offer a fantastic view into the workroom where the vintage presses are hard at work producing custom, handmade paper products of every kind.

Since I had already done most of my shopping with them at the show, I didn’t need too much from the shop that day, but I found a couple of fun things to take home as a reminder of my visit. I was excited to see that they had a couple of Studio Ghibli mystery badges, which I had a lot of fun opening when I got home. I also picked up a couple rolls of washi tape and some stickers that sang to me as a lifelong native of the Pacific Northwest.

*I'm really pleased with the badges I got!*

If you ever find yourself in the Portland area, do yourself a favor and stop by Oblation. It’s a lovely way to pass some time if you have an hour or two to spare.

Concluding Thoughts

The PNW Pen Show is the smallest of the three pen shows I’ve attended so far (Baltimore and the DC Supershow being the others), with around 30 vendors in total. A show of this size might be an excellent starting point if you’re new to the pen show scene or simply don’t enjoy overcrowded events (a common occurrence at the larger shows I just mentioned). With a few exceptions, it was very easy to browse the tables and chat with the vendors without interruption. From my perspective as an attendee, it felt mostly well-organized, but it’s a tough thing to judge in a show this small because it simply doesn’t have as many moving parts as a larger show does. Generally, everyone seemed to be relaxed and happy to be there.

I think the biggest drawback to the PNW Pen Show is honestly the ticket price. The pricing was the same last year and this year: $30 per day for both Saturday and Sunday ($25/day if purchased in advance), or $50 total for both days ($45 in advance). Students with an ID could get in for $10/day, and kids under 10 were free. I did some research after the show to compare this pricing structure with other US-based pen shows, and from what I can tell, it has one of the highest ticket prices of any pen show currently in operation in the country. A single day at the PNW Pen Show costs almost as much as a 3-day pass to the Baltimore show.

I was happy to attend despite the cost and to support any pen-related activities in the PNW region, but I can’t in good conscience encourage others to do so when there’s such an imbalance between the size of the show and the admission price. That isn’t to say that I don’t think the vendors and their products are worth it, because they certainly are, but it just feels a tad steep compared to similarly-sized pen shows. In that vein, I also can’t say it’s worth going out of your way to attend in its current iteration. If you already live within a reasonable distance (like I do) and can travel easily by car, it’s worth making the effort to check out at least once. But if a visit involves extensive travel and travel costs, I think your money is better saved or spent elsewhere (for now).

Overall, I had a lovely time visiting the PNW Pen Show this year and picked up a lot of items that I’m super excited about! For many of us, ordering online is the only way to acquire the necessities for our hobbies, so it always feels good when you have a chance to get these things in person. It’s a privilege to have such an event right in my backyard, and I look forward to watching this show grow in the years to come. My only regret about the weekend is that I didn’t have time to squeeze in a visit to Powell’s, but there’s always next time!