DC Pen Show 2024
I purposely waited a few weeks to report on the Washington DC Pen Show to let it sink in. Touted as the world’s largest pen show, this year finally felt like crowds were back to pre-Covid levels. Unfortunately, post-show had a lot of Covid-positive tests. I hope all are well again now.
The show was fantastic. Simple as that. Sales were decent, although there seemed to still be a lot of hesitancy for larger purchases. But the level of new pen users, while still large, seems to have balanced out with more seasoned users, so it wasn’t all “new and learning”. That means some were spending on larger budgets, which directly affects my show perceptions.
The show had a large portion of new vendors, from all over the world, which made it great fun to walk the show on Sunday when crowds were lower. Speaking of crowds, Thursday’s “traders day” felt like a solid Friday crowd, with many sales from both vendors and private collectors. Friday’s crowd felt like a typical post-pandemic Saturday, and Saturday… well, Saturday was a full house at times! Even Sunday had above average crowds, from what I could tell. I didn’t hear any vendors complaining about overall sales, although many did report that sales still hovered in the under-$100 range.
I will say this, though - the hotel still stinks. Two years ago, the hotel did a major remodel, and in doing so, made the in-house restaurant MUCH smaller. Staffing was on point for the first time, ever, but when you can only seat a small amount of people, good staffing only goes so far. Many had to leave the hotel to get dinner in a reasonable time. Also due to the renovations, there is now a severe lack of after hours hangout spaces available. We used to be able to hang out at the bar, or lobby-adjacent spaces, but that’s now incorporated into the smaller restaurant, and the only other space was roped off after the show closed, forcing people to mill around the lobby or search for alternate hangout spaces. Many of us simply sat in basement hallways adjacent to the small conference rooms used for classes. It worked, but it split the crowd up and made it feel “off”, at least to me.
When all was said and done, though, it was great to see old pen friends and make new ones, and it seemed everyone had a great time. DC is my home show, my “anniversary” show, and it’s always great to see pen family in person.
Until next time, remember to always Spin the Compass.
