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The International Woodworking Fair Atlanta will produce an all-new trade show and conference built to extend and expand IWF’s long-running Atlanta franchise.
IWF West will debut Aug. 25-27, 2027 in San Antonio, Tx., in a three-day trade show built to serve both the burgeoning southwestern U.S. marketplace and IWF’s large national customer base. The new show, which will include a broad selection of educational and social/networking events echoing the Atlanta Conference programming, will bring the best of the Atlanta product mix together with manufacturers making their IWF debut. But the San Antonio event will also deliver its own unique blend of features and focus, separate and apart from Atlanta.
IWF West is created largely in response to growing exhibitor and attendee customer demand for a new trade show experience timed between the biennial IWF Atlanta stagings and sited in a major southwestern city central to Sunbelt business. To meet those and related customer requirements, IWF West will deliver:
• A concentrated three-day show scheduled for convenience, efficiency and impact.
• A carefully curated mix of manufacturers representing the best of IWF Atlanta plus new first-time exhibitors making their IWF debut.
• A perfectly scaled show floor providing buyers quick and easy access to an extensive mix of machinery, machinery-related products and services, components, supplies and non-machinery related products.
• A more relaxed show environment, in pace and scale, allowing buyers time to explore the products and services they might have missed at IWF Atlanta...and to make more productive connections with new exhibitors.
Enhanced networking opportunities in a show environment created to help buyers find new ideas, new solutions and new ways to grow their business.
And customized business-building learning and professional development opportunities featuring wood products technology and design experts in an intimate setting geared toward education.
The new IWF West and IWF Atlanta are sponsored by the Wood Industry Association (WIA). Both IWF Atlanta and IWF West are produced and managed by Atlanta-based IWF.
Initial reactions to IWF West have been strong, based on extensive independent research conducted among IWF exhibitor and attendee customers. Both groups expressed positive reactions to the idea of a Western show, especially one located in the state of Texas.
In quantitative research conducted among current IWF Atlanta exhibitors, 56% liked the IWF West show concept with 64% liking its key attributes such as the San Antonio location, accessibility for buyers and show duration. In parallel research conducted among attendees, appeal was even stronger with 63% of buyers attending IWF 2024—the most recent Atlanta show—strongly endorsing the IWF West show idea.
IWF West will be held at the Henry B. González Convention Center, San Antonio’s premier exhibition space nestled in the heart of the city’s historic district. San Antonio is ideally located for easy access from throughout Texas as well as key western states like Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. San Antonio is:
• The seventh-largest U.S. city. In Texas, only Houston is bigger.
• Serviced by every major airline in the country and is a convenient drive from other big Texas cities such as Houston and Dallas.
• An easy flight from other important population centers in California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah.
• An important trade show and conference destination offering more than 48,000 hotel rooms, including 15,000 downtown and over 4,000 within walking distance of the convention center.
A potential attendee said, “I like the location extremely well. San Antonio would be an excellent venue.” Added another, “I like the idea of a more relaxed show environment to allow me time to explore items and equipment that interests me.”
“I love the idea of a new show in Texas!,” responded one exhibitor who has shown in Atlanta and said they would be looking at doing the same in San Antonio. “It sounds like a wonderful opportunity in a central location and I also like the three-day [scheduling].”
“We usually see a strong turnout at IWF,” responded another exhibitor. “So an IWF on odd years could be a good way to go for us.”
