I drove up to Chicago to vend and teach at the Chicago Pen Show this weekend. I traveled up by myself (there is a whole flat tire story I will not go into here but, as always, there was travel drama!) and met up with my friend and contributor to the site, Jaclyn of Kaleidocraft Prints and her lovely wife Laura and we hung out for the weekend.
We were set up in the lower level ballroom (AKA the basement, the dungeon, the “cool kids room”, and “where all the stationery vendors are”) with about 20 or so other vendors ranging from makers, leatherworkers, sticker makers and Blick*.
(*Why yes you can buy Col-o-ring directly from your local Blick Store now!)
Since I was working my table alone, I didn’t have many opportunities to walk around and see the 100+ vendors upstairs and, in some cases, I didn’t even know some vendors were at the show until I ran into them in the elevators.
As you can see, our little room was a great place filled with cool creators, smart people and we had such a good time. Many attendees enjoyed our little hideaway too. I heard many people say that our little ballroom was “where all the stationery was” which was interesting.
In the foyer downstairs there was a large table with ink testing stations, assorted tables and chairs and was quieter making a nice place for people to rest and relax.
VIPs and early arriving attendees were able to get a promotional tote from Atlas Stationers/Esterbrook. It was a really nice black cotton tote with cross body strap and a zipper closure (customer below shopping the Dime Novel Raven table has one). It was probably one of the nicest freebies I’ve ever seen at a pen show.
Over the weekend, I taught two workshops. I taught Gamify Your Life on Friday afternoon and then taught Sigils on Sunday morning. Both workshops sold out and were full of happy, active attendees. I think everyone enjoyed the workshops and got something out of them. Teaching these workshop has become one of my favorite things to do at events. I love helping people find new ways to use their notebooks and supplies and feel creative and productive. If you’re interested in taking one of my workshops, I will be teaching several workshops at the St. Louis Pen Show in June.
Overall, I think the Chicago Pen Show was a huge success for both vendors and attendees, even if I only got to see a little corner of the show.
Some notes about the hotel:
There were only a few small elevators that were SLOW. It made getting to and from rooms in busy times a long wait.
Guests staying in the hotel pretty much all agreed that hot water is not readily available. I took one tepid shower and had to make do in between. I luckily stayed in a hotel on the outskirts of the suburbs on Sunday night and took an epically long hot shower to make up for the weekend. The hotel was across the street from a large, high-end mall with lots of eateries for dinner but required crossing a large “strode” to get there.
The main ballroom was considered unusually cold and our downstairs room was a little warm.
News is that the 2027 Chicago Pen Show will be held at a different hotel a few minutes away that will allow vendors to be in one extra-large ballroom. I hope to see you at the Chicago Show in 2027 because I am definitely going to go back.
(*If you’re curious about the special limited edition Land of Inkin’ Col-o-ring, we will make them available in the shop soon. Consider signing up for our shop newsletter to be notified when they are listed.)
