NJ Pen Club Pen-B-Q 2016 Wrap Up

Thank you to all who attended our inaugural Goldspot Pens & NJ Pen Club Pen-B-Q cookout and mini-pen show that was held last weekend on Saturday, August 27th. We appreciate everyone who was able to make it and enjoy a sunny, Jersey afternoon with us. Anyone who wasn't able to make it, but wanted to come, this post is for you! We've collected the highlights of our meet up in this convenient, bite-sized post. Enjoy!

We set up on a beautiful, low-humidity Saturday morning. Our tents pitched and our tables clothed with white linen, we were set to bring out the pens and the food!

Thanks to the support of Kenro Industries and Blueline Rediform, we had two awesome reps from each company come out to set up their own tables and show off some of the latest and greatest pens. Below is Kenro Industries' Neil L. with his spread of Aurora and Montegrappa pens with a couple of Ballast Watches to throw in some luxurious variety.

Montegrappa pens (left), Aurora Pens (right)

Jennifer R. from Rediform enthusiastically represented Lamy pens and Filofax organizers at her table. This was her first "pen meet up" experience as a sales rep and she absolutely loved it.

Filofax organizers (left) Lamy Lx, Lamy 2000 and new Scala pens (right)

So, what did Goldspot have cooking? Besides our own table of closeout special pens, we also had ink bottles you can sample and a top-secret case of Parker pens that are expected to debut fall 2016. Plus, Tom was manning the grill, flipping burgers and turning dogs for guests. A special shout-out goes to our long-time pen club members, Karen and Debbie, for bringing several summer snacks and goodies to add to our spread of food. There was a lot of food to eat!

Tom was also demonstrating the Pilot Parallel modified 6.0mm nib that writes like a folded nib. "Ooohs" and "aaahs" could be heard from the gathering of on-lookers. The pen was inked with Lamy Dark Violet.

One of the highlights of the event was the huge door prize giveaway. We received great support from our vendors, who graciously provided us with plenty of goodies to giveaway. We raffled off a Retro 51 Spaceglow, which was released back in 2010 and we would estimate is worth now about $100. We also had a Caran d'Ache Essentially Swiss ballpoint pen, several Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pop ballpoint pens, a Lamy logo ballpen, Filofax notebook, Pilot sport water bottles, totes and desk caddy organizers. We had so many prizes that everyone who attended received something!

Overall, it was a fun afternoon enjoyed by all. We're already talking about making it a bigger event next year. Perhaps this is just the beginning of a beautiful, yearly event. If you're in the NJ metro area, would you be interested in coming? Please let us know below in the comments.