2015 Ohio Pen Show

[trdsf]

This will be my first one -- the last several years, I have had a job that had me working weekends, and this comes close on the heels of another weekend that I must have off, and could never arrange both weekends close together. And before that, I hadn't been bitten by the pen bug yet.

 

Anyone else going to be there?

[gweimer1]

I'll be there for the whole shebang. I'm getting my list together and building my funds for the week.

[Federalist Pens]

Federalist Pens will be at The Ohio Show!

Look for my table(s)!

 

Looking forward to the Ohio Show!

First Ohio show for me/store!

 

Frank

[inkstainedruth]

My usual scheduling conflict that meant I could only go for Friday and part of Saturday isn't the same weekend this year -- it's the weekend before. So I may be able to go out for most of the weekend! Depending of course on finances, and whether I get get the same room rate for all three nights in the place I stayed last year. Which reminds me -- I need to check hotel rates (although I suspect that I'm not going to do much better than the place I stayed at last year....

Tentative plans are to go out early Thursday morning to the Dayton area and hit at least one of those ginormous antiques malls around Springfield, then head back east to my hotel and attempt to get the show (at least the auction) on Thursday.

Don't know if any pens are in the budget (it's mostly repairs, just like at the DC show this year). But I may scope out some ink. But if one of the pens I've been eyeing presents itself with a reasonable price tag....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[trdsf]

We should at least have a FPN run to the Graeter's on the corner!

[inkstainedruth]

We should at least have a FPN run to the Graeter's on the corner!

What is Graeter's?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[gweimer1]

What is Graeter's?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Really expensive ice cream. You'd be better off finding a Jeni's. There's one in the short North, and there's a paper shop there, too.

[Barkingpig]

What is Graeter's?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

As a "food professional" you owe it to yourself to enjoy one of the finest ice cream's available from Ohio that may be expensive BUT is produced by their "french pot" method, employing small wooden paddles & copper pots made ONLY in "small batches!" As non natives my family & friends frequently "called ahead" (24 hours notice required) so that we could preorder selected pints that were packed with dry ice for carryout when visiting. Many are truly seasonal flavors made only with "fruits of the season." My favorite has always been called simply "caramel" until recently rebranded it as a more popularly descriptive "Original caramel NOW with sea salt." Still tastes the same to me & worth the $5.00 per pint now that is has been marketed for regional retail grocery stores. If you enjoy ice cream you owe it to yourself to try some if only a single scoop.

 

Since you ARE a Food Professional you might be able to "write your pen show travel expense OFF as BUSINESS travel by saving your receipt for Graeters? Of course this would be subject to your Tax Professional's advice & I certainly wouldn't suggest anything EXCEPT enjoying a FINE ice cream product. The Cincinnati locations also offer baked goods & candies besides other "frozen confections" & sauces. Their sorbets are also pretty special. You might think of Graeters as the "Parker Penman Sapphire of the ice cream world of Ohio & surrounding areas."

 

The usual disclaimers apply; I am not a member of the Graeters' family, stockholder nor employed by, just a loyal & happy customer.

[inkstainedruth]

As a "food professional" you owe it to yourself to enjoy one of the finest ice cream's available from Ohio that may be expensive BUT is produced by their "french pot" method, employing small wooden paddles & copper pots made ONLY in "small batches!" As non natives my family & friends frequently "called ahead" (24 hours notice required) so that we could preorder selected pints that were packed with dry ice for carryout when visiting. Many are truly seasonal flavors made only with "fruits of the season." My favorite has always been called simply "caramel" until recently rebranded it as a more popularly descriptive "Original caramel NOW with sea salt." Still tastes the same to me & worth the $5.00 per pint now that is has been marketed for regional retail grocery stores. If you enjoy ice cream you owe it to yourself to try some if only a single scoop.

 

Since you ARE a Food Professional you might be able to "write your pen show travel expense OFF as BUSINESS travel by saving your receipt for Graeters? Of course this would be subject to your Tax Professional's advice & I certainly wouldn't suggest anything EXCEPT enjoying a FINE ice cream product. The Cincinnati locations also offer baked goods & candies besides other "frozen confections" & sauces. Their sorbets are also pretty special. You might think of Graeters as the "Parker Penman Sapphire of the ice cream world of Ohio & surrounding areas."

 

The usual disclaimers apply; I am not a member of the Graeters' family, stockholder nor employed by, just a loyal & happy customer.

We run a mobile bakery at one event a year (next year it looks like maybe a second show). I don't think the IRS would buy the idea of a "fact finding mission"... especially since we're making an attempt at medieval-esque food). Although it would be interesting to compare it to the Toscanini's in the MIT Student Union up in MA (one of their flavors was made with Guinness... ). And though I've never actually been, I've heard stories about the fabled Penn State Creamery (which, as it happens, is where Ben and Jerry's got its start...).

It would have to be pretty phenomenal ice cream. We've got some darned good places here in Pittsburgh (Dave and Andy's, down in Oakland is pretty famous at least regionally -- although not to the level of the Penn State Creamery, perhaps). And some friends turned us onto a few years ago called Remember When, which is a drive-in that mostly (but not exclusively) does soft serve. I remember the phone call "Hey, it's Darryl's birthday, come meet us for ice cream!" "But that's in *Windgap*! How the hell did you find an ice-cream stand in Windgap when you live in Greenfield....?" (It turned out that Rachel was in a women's small business group with the owner of Remember When). It's the sort of place where Little League teams go after games, and they play oldies music on the boombox. It's open in the spring and summer until I think Labor Day, and then (for some odd reason) Thanksgiving weekend.... It's also the first place I had "birthday cake" in ice cream. But thankfully Mary has taken "Blue Moon" off the menu -- I got it once without asking what was in it first (it was new at the time so the sign hadn't been completely updated...). Cotton candy flavored ice cream (blue in color) with multicolored mini marshmallows. Blecch. Sicky-sweet. I probably would have loved it when I was eight....

There are also several frozen custard places in the area, and at least one upscale gelato shop.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Fozziebear]

I may have asked this re: last year's show, but the question is still valid:

 

Anyone going from NE Ohio? I live in Cleveland and would be happy to "carpool" or share the driving for a (long) day trip.

 

I'm on a very limited budget. If I'm lucky, probably just shy of $200 not including gas and hotel. Anything I spend on accommodations is money that can't go to pens, etc. I'm about 2.5 hours away so it's very manageable as single, long day-trip with more than one person to share driving.

 

Any constructive thoughts about this would be great; even if you're not going or not going from Metro-Cleveland.

 

Cheers.

[vannesspen]

Vanness will be at the Show and will offer ink samples free to the first 100 people!

[Buzz Jack]

I be attending the show on Friday I do not know whether I will be able to attend on Saturday. Graeters ice cream is in my opinion better and cheaper than jenis. Hopefully I will be able to get another Pelikan fountain pen for my collection.

[Buzz Jack]

I was up on 161 by the hotel Saturday and 161 is torn up due to construction. You can get to the hotel from n270 but you cannot get there from 33 or s270.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Buzz Jack

[Parker51]

I will be there all weekend from start to finish as my wife bought me a weekend pass.

[pengoddess]

Always look forward to the long running Ohio Pen Show. The Mawhorter family does a great job organizing. Nice cordial atmosphere. Oh! Did I mention oodles of fountain pens? Frank and I will see you there all three days. We'll be in our usual spot in main ballroom against the back wall with writing things to tempt you with.

[trdsf]

For the record: if time permits, trips should be taken to both Graeter's *and* Jeni's, and I'd like to put in a good word for Johnson's Ice Cream in Bexley (as in Bexley Pens, yes) -- in fact, there's a stretch of about a mile in Bexley that has a Jeni's, a Graeter's, and a Johnson's.

 

I think I know the paper shop you're talking about in the Short North, gweimer -- they also carry J. Herbin inks in bottles and cartridges. They also usually have a small selection of fountain and dip pens, and a couple crystal ink wells--unfortunately usually at Short North boutique prices.

[gweimer1]

For the record: if time permits, trips should be taken to both Graeter's *and* Jeni's, and I'd like to put in a good word for Johnson's Ice Cream in Bexley (as in Bexley Pens, yes) -- in fact, there's a stretch of about a mile in Bexley that has a Jeni's, a Graeter's, and a Johnson's.

 

I think I know the paper shop you're talking about in the Short North, gweimer -- they also carry J. Herbin inks in bottles and cartridges. They also usually have a small selection of fountain and dip pens, and a couple crystal ink wells--unfortunately usually at Short North boutique prices.

 

Yep, that's the one - On Paper. And, about block away is a jeweler, Alexander's, that has a small selection of Montegrappa pens.

[inkstainedruth]

I was up on 161 by the hotel Saturday and 161 is torn up due to construction. You can get to the hotel from n270 but you cannot get there from 33 or s270.

Yikes! Good to know. I had been told that the exit was torn up, and thought that if I took the previous exit -- the one from Sawmill Road (I'm going to staying NE of Columbus in Westerville) -- I'd be okay. I looked up the route on Google maps, and it *appeared* that I could take Sawmill Road south to 161, then follow that west till it hits Frantz Road/US 33. (Apparently I also may need to stick my nose in my local AAA office just before I leave town to get the most updated info....)

Ah. Just looked at traffic.com -- it doesn't list Columbus, per se, but I just scrolled west from Pittsburgh. The problem *is* at the "normal" exit itself: coming in from the East, 161/US 33 are fine. But that will likely mean that I need to avoid that area on Thursday evening, heading to my hotel -- and possibly, depending on the time of day, to the show to go via alternate routes... (Terry Mawhorter had warned me about the construction when I had emailed him asking about the different level of rates, since in previous years I was just paying the day rate for the day or two I could attend, and had given me the alternate route going in via exit 15 and Tuttle Road).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[trdsf]

Yeah, I was out there at the same hotel for the state coin show in September, and it was... deeply unpleasant. If you're coming in on 270 on the north side, I'd get off at Sawmill and head south, and pick up westbound 161 from there.

 

Me, I'll be taking the COTA #18 to Tuttle Crossing and bicycling the rest of the way.

[Florenze]

How does one register for a workshop or seminar? The schedule is posted but I don't see that info. (Thanks for the noob question)

 

I know Mr. Binder's class is full.... was interested in others though.