As anyone reading this knows, I love stationary. Based on that, what event would be right up my alley? If you guessed "The Chicago Stationary Fest," you would be correct! Around a month ago I went to this festival. While there were some hiccups along the way, overall my girlfriend and I had a great time. I don't want to write a whole post complaining, but there are some things that need to be said, or at least put out into the internet in the hopes that an organizer sees it for future reference.

Day 1 (Saturday)

On Saturday, we got up early (for me at least) and took the train over to Ravenswood. I figured that, as we had tickets, we would be able to just walk in. We arrived at 11 AM, an hour after doors opened. As soon as we got into the parking lot we noticed a very long line of people queued up outside. Hoping for the best, we got in the back of the line. We then heard people saying they had been waiting for two hours to get in. Apparently, the organizers (Paper and Pencil) had overbooked the venue by a long shot. Whatever, I can wait. It was a nice day and the building provided some shade. After another 30 minutes, someone came out with a sign and a QR code. We scanned this and were entered into a digital wait list.

Impending Doom

We were on that wait list for around 3 hours. In that time, we went to Culvers (would not recommend a butter burger on an empty stomach), did 3 laps around the neighborhood, and stopped at a coffee shop to get a drink. I think we got in the doors at 3 or 4 PM. Once we got in, it was packed. Like, so packed it was difficult to move around. At this point, I did not particularly care. I scrambled upstairs and bought the main item I came for: the limited edition CSF Retro51 Tornado. Spoiler alert: I got it. After that conquest we looked around and had a great time. Once we were actually in, we sort of forgot about the arduous journey to get inside.

Day 2 (Sunday)

While I am not exactly sure what happened, I think the organizers canceled the Sunday tickets or something. It didn't impact me at all. We got there later on day 2 and walked right in. It was much less crowded, and was a better experience. And with that, long winded complaint over. Lets see what I picked up!

Included Swag

With the ticket, we got the following:

• Travelers Company inspired event program
• Field Notes notebook with the CSF logo on the back
• Lanyard and name tag
  All were very well thought out, and I quite like the Field Note! The program had a stamp page in the back to collect stamps from different vendors. We did not get all of them, but I got a few.

Stationary Swap

Upstairs, there was a long table dubbed the "Stationary Swap" that was sponsored by a local art recycling business. They had a lot of stickers, notebooks, pens, and other assorted items you could trade or take. I of course left a few Mechanical Inclination stickers. I found something very neat in one of the pen bins, that felt worth 3 stickers.

Samsung Pen

I remember seeing pens with a similar shape when I was younger, but none with the feature this one has. As you can see in the picture, there are lines on both the cap and body pointing to points on a map. It took me a second to decipher the purpose, but this is a world time calculator. Pretty neat in my opinion and definitely one of the most unique pens I have.

There is also a lanyard on it, and the clip reads "Samsung Card Gangnam Branch." Turns out this pen made its way to me all the way from Seoul, South Korea. Samsung Card is Samsung's credit card (hence the name). I wish I knew the story of this one. Seems it traveled a long way..

Retro 51 Tornado

My great aunt and uncle, who are partially to thank (or blame) for my pen-obsession, collect Retro 51 Tornadoes. When I moved to Chicago, my parents got me one. I kept it in the tube for the longest time, looking at it every once in a while and using it on special occasions. A few months ago when I got bored of the pens in my rotation, I started using it and fell in love. It is one of the smoothest writing pens I have ever used. When I saw that there was a special edition one for the festival, I decided that was going to be my "big purchase" for the weekend.
Unlike my Chicago edition, this one has a grippy, matte finish. I think its some sort of coating, but regardless it feels nice. I am a big fan of the little logo on it. It is very unique. It is also green, which is a big plus for me! I now rotate between the two and am enjoying writing on paper more and more.

Kokuyo Hako-Ake

I have limited space in my pencil case. My backpack already weighs a ton with my gargantuan laptop, so I try to save weight whenever I can. This clever device solved one problem. Did I get you with that little tale? definitely not a noticeable difference but I am the one telling the story here. Anyways, the Hako-Ake combines two useful devices: scissors and a box cutter. For a visual, take a look at the image above. Scissors + box cutter = this. The blades are VERY sharp (ask me how I found that out) and it all fits into a sleek package. Big fan. And it's orange, my other favorite color! I had my eyes on this thing for a while but never pulled the trigger. After I stood and looked at it for a few minutes, my girlfriend took it out of my hands and got it for me. Thanks, Emma!

Travelers Company / Blackwing Notebook Insert

I love Blackwing and I love paper. Travelers Company combined the two with their collaboration with the maker of the best pencils ever. I don't have the whole TC notebook thing (yet), but I figured I could still use the insert until I swallow the cost of the leather cover. Not too much to say about this one. I plan to use it for a "junk journal" once I get enough junk scraps to fill up a whole page. Will update when that happens!

Miscellaneous

I also got a postcard and Paper and Pencil pen, seen in the header image.

Closing Notes and Brief Fish Review

Overall, 9.5/10 experience. Once inside, I had a blast. I am looking forward to going next year, if they have it. Special thank you to Emma for the tickets and for coming with me! I hope you have enjoyed this post! Stay sharp.

On a tangential note, after we left Sunday, we went to REI. I got some fish. Tinned fish. I am a big fan of Patagonia, known for shirts and pants, and apparently they now make food. I tried the "Patagonia Provisions Roaster Garlic Mackerel in organic extra-virgin olive oil." It was very good. That is all.