VPCers at the 3rd annual CFPE picnic!

It was like déjà vu all over again as fifteen (just like last summer!) Vancouver Pen Club members attended the 3rd annual summer picnic hosted by local members of the Canadian Fountain Pen Enthusiasts (CFPE), a private Facebook group. The picnic was held on Sunday September 8th at Deas Island Regional Park in Delta, BC and the weather was cooperative--sunny, but not overly warm-- for this really fun get-together. In addition to the tasty desserts attendees brought, there were lots of beautiful writing instruments--both modern and vintage-- to admire (and buy/sell/trade!)

Sherman ("King of the Selfies" 😄) took lots of great photos and said I could post them here on our club's website, so without further ado, here they are!

(all photos courtesy of Sherman ~ please click on images to enlarge)

That's Mark, the co-organizer of the picnic, relaxing in the background before things got busy (looks like Sherman --on the right-- and Phil were the "early birds" lol !)

The CFPE is a national online fountain pen club, so it wasn't unusual to see members from other parts of Canada in attendance...like Julie from Edmonton!

Rene (far left) and Brian are regulars at the local CFPE picnics. Once again, Brian brought many wonderful fountain pens for us to see and/or buy (I didn't buy anything from Brian this year, but I did buy a nice vintage pen from him in 2023).

Jayne (left) and Sharon N. started the South Fraser Pen Club (yes, another local pen club!) in January (their Facebook page)

It was a fun afternoon of pen discussions! Jerred (foreground, with sunglasses) and Dave M. (3rd from the left) brought lots of great pens ... and then traded a couple of terrific fountain pens with each other :)

The picnic was also a chance to indulge in some sweet treats (and deviled eggs!) That's me in the blue shirt and, to my left, David C.

Sherman brought his élysée writing instruments for us to drool over--that's Peter admiring Sherman's amazing collection.

I hadn't seen Mark M. and Jessica at a CFPE picnic before, but Mark wound up joining our pen club later that day!

That's co-organizer Sharon T. with David and CFPE member Egon (with hat).

I think I saw more vintage fountain pens than modern ones at the picnic. Both Brian and Derek (far right of photo) joined our pen club many years ago ---actually, they were among the first ten people to join--- and both have oustanding vintage pen collections.

"Cheers!"

And here's what I bought at the picnic-- a beautiful modern Conklin 'All-American'"Courage" limited edition fountain pen in red that Sherman was selling (thanks again for the pen, Sherman!)

Last, but not least---some views of Sherman's fantastic élysée collection ....

(I was surprised that Sherman had so many élysée displays for his pens!)

There's an invaluable élysée online reference book by N. Dean Meyer (to which Sherman contributed) here that I'd highly recommend, if you want to know all about this German brand. They went out of business in 2000 (just a few years after they were acquired by Staedtler), but élysée made some lovely, elegant pens in their day.


Our thanks to Sherman for sharing his photos and many thanks, of course, to our gracious hosts, the local CFPE branch (most especially organizers Mark and Sharon T.), for inviting our pen club members to their annual picnic!

(~blog post by Maja~)