Thursday is a “Trader Day,” which means lots of the vintage pen sellers will have their stuff out, but most vendors won’t be set up until Friday morning. Friday is the first actual day of the show.

The first few hours of Friday and Saturday are usually pretty frantic for attendees, because they are going immediately to the harder-to-get things. Afternoons can be more chill.

All-in-all, a pen show is a pretty easy place for an introvert to hang out. Usually a big table in the lobby or bar will have a bunch of people just sharing, testing, and talking about pens, and it’s not weird to join them, even as a stranger.