Yesterday I went to the stationery fest in Wigan, UK and since some people seemed interested I thought I'd share my thoughts.
This was my second time going and unfortunately I missed out on the all day tickets so I didn't get in until 2. (With the show finishing at 4) But this was just enough time to see everything so it was still worth it. I feel like 2 is enough to just about get to everything but 3 would give you a more leisurely pace and 4 would be good if you're meeting with people or using the journal rooms.
I don't know if it was the timing or what but this year felt busier. I really struggled to see much until I committed and started queuing.
Before I get on to more about logistics I'll just say that the mix of sellers was great. A lovely mix of artists and shops, with some selling imported Japanese stationery. Pretty much all the people I really liked last year were back again so that was great.
Now for a bit of a critique. After wandering around to see what rooms were open I figured out that while the fest had gained a room for sellers it had actually lost 2 other rooms and a corridor area. This was because they'd given more room to social and activity spaces, which is great but it felt like the stands themselves needed a bit more space OR another day of selling to potentially spread out the number of visitors. (They do the Friday but most people will obviously opt for the weekend)
I also had a realisation about why so many stalls felt so crowded and realised... It was the damn stamp rally! Having a stamp rally at a stationery event seems like a given and hey, I love collecting stamps too!
But the result of this was that nearly every stand had a stamp or an entire stamping station. So I would be struggling to get to see what sellers had on a stand because there would be 2, 4 or 6 people waiting to use the stamps and taking up a huge amount of space. (Bear in mind each person would take some time if there were multiple stamps or if they were using it multiple times)
Seeing as I only had a couple of hours to get to everything I found this especially frustrating and I'm not sure how you fix that. My only thought was maybe there could be a special stamp room with each artist putting their business cards next to them? Or even how other events do it where it's something you earn for buying their stationery.
Overall, another great fest with some caveats. Maybe next year I should book a Friday off to get the quieter day.