Baltimore / Washington International Pen Show March 1,2,3, 2024

[Tasmith]

Coming soon!  March 1-2-3, 2024

 

https://baltimorepenshow.com/

[inkstainedruth]

I already have my hotel reservations made -- but can't get anyone on the show staff to give me a straight answer about the difference (besides the prices, of course) between the VIP membership and a weekend pass.  Asked the question on MONDAY on the show website and still haven't gotten an answer back, and it's now late afternoon on *Wednesday* (and it's not like we're in different time zones either...). 😞  And when I tried to go on their FB page, I got shunted over to their INSTAGRAM account.... 

Bad enough that I had trouble with the hotel booking company's lousy IT on Monday, followed by PayPal's lousy IT (and p*sspoor customer service on the phone).  I don't remember this being a problem in past years.  AT ALL....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[whichwatch]

If you go to the show website and click on "Admission VIP Upgrade Tickets" it is spelled out.  You get access to the pre-show gathering room arranged for VIP's and vendors, special badge and lanyard, one hour earlier admittance than general public (same as weekend pass), special SWAG, and a guaranteed seat in all free seminars.

 

Whether that is worth the price extra or not is of course for each individual to decide for themselves.

[Jayebird]

Do you know what sorts of seminars are typical? This will be my first time going but they don't have those posted yet. I would love to know what is likely based on past years.

[gweimer1]

We'll be there again.  More fun stuff....stuff that Rich might like, too.  😎

[inkstainedruth]

@Jayebird -- Don't know about this one, but at other shows I've been to in the past, there were things about collecting specific brands of pens, and workshops in writing in Spencerian, and at my first show (DCSS a number of years ago, when they were at the old site hotel) I took a nib tuning workshop that Richard Binder ran, which I had to sign up for in advance.  And at another show they set up tables in the hallway and there were various mini-workshops where you moved around from table to table every half hour or so, and I remember that one of those was about CONID pens.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Jayebird]

8 hours ago, gweimer1 said:

We'll be there again. 

Are you running an event? I see you listed on the vendor page - that page seems up to date. Its the "seminars, events, and workshops" page that is still empty so I don't know when to expect those and what might need sign up...

[gweimer1]

On 2/15/2024 at 11:33 PM, Jayebird said:

Are you running an event? I see you listed on the vendor page - that page seems up to date. Its the "seminars, events, and workshops" page that is still empty so I don't know when to expect those and what might need sign up...

 

I won't be running an event, but we will have a table of pens to offer.   Here's some of what I will have with me.

 

[Misfit]

I’m posting this because I saw on Reddit a post about a lost pen case. Hard to know if the person who lost it is a member here. But maybe so. 
 

Here is the Reddit post showing the lost pen case. 

[inkstainedruth]

I'm not on Reddit but that looks like the one I lost over the weekend.  Ask the person what pens are in it.  There should be (at least) a Forest Green 51 Aero and a red striped Laidtone Duovac, plus a small box with an Esterbrook 9xxx series nib in it.  (I had four cases with me plus a the crochet pen roll that someone made for me a few years ago when there was a sort of "Secret Santa" thing on FPN).  But when I got to the show on Friday morning, I couldn't find that brown zipper case (honestly, I thought that when I got back from dinner to my hotel room, after reporting a problem with the bathroom tub spigot running, and was told when I got back the maintenance guy might still be there (no evidence the guy even showed up) they moved me to another room.  And when I couldn't find the case on Friday, I thought the maintenance guy had swiped it....  Didn't think to check to see if it had been lost at the show (I was kinda buggy eyed by Friday -- hadn't slept well Wednesday night, and had snow and a bit of sleep most of the way out until after I crossed into Maryland from West Virginia and got onto I-68....  And since the "close exterior doors to the ballroom at the site hotel were locked from the inside, I had to walk clear around to the front entrance and then clear back to the back of the hotel, then all the way to the far end to the ONLY entrance to the ballroom that was actually OPEN.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

Hi Ruth, I just saw your post. I’ll copy your post, and share it with the person on Reddit.

 

I sent a message to the person with a section of your post copied and pasted. 
 

It sure would be quite the thing if it’s yours, and I can help you get it back. I let the person know I was willing to be the go between. 

[Ashram]

15 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I'm not on Reddit but that looks like the one I lost over the weekend.  Ask the person what pens are in it.  There should be (at least) a Forest Green 51 Aero and a red striped Laidtone Duovac, plus a small box with an Esterbrook 9xxx series nib in it.  (I had four cases with me plus a the crochet pen roll that someone made for me a few years ago when there was a sort of "Secret Santa" thing on FPN).  But when I got to the show on Friday morning, I couldn't find that brown zipper case (honestly, I thought that when I got back from dinner to my hotel room, after reporting a problem with the bathroom tub spigot running, and was told when I got back the maintenance guy might still be there (no evidence the guy even showed up) they moved me to another room.  And when I couldn't find the case on Friday, I thought the maintenance guy had swiped it....  Didn't think to check to see if it had been lost at the show (I was kinda buggy eyed by Friday -- hadn't slept well Wednesday night, and had snow and a bit of sleep most of the way out until after I crossed into Maryland from West Virginia and got onto I-68....  And since the "close exterior doors to the ballroom at the site hotel were locked from the inside, I had to walk clear around to the front entrance and then clear back to the back of the hotel, then all the way to the far end to the ONLY entrance to the ballroom that was actually OPEN.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Hi Ruth, check your PMs.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks!  I got a call from Martin about 12:30 PM after you passed my phone # over to him.  I was about to call him myself, since I had his number in my cell phone after the issues with a Snorkel he didn't have time to do at the show last year and then had the health issues.  So he's going to see about doing the repairs on the pens (although apparently the spare Estie nib didn't turn up -- but at least I have a few others I've picked up over the years).

Constantly amazed and humbled at the kindness and generosity of the pen community and the people on FPN in particular....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth