IWF West – Key Facts

The International Woodworking Fair has created and will produce IWF West, an all-new trade show and conference set to debut August 25–27, 2027 in San Antonio, Texas. IWF West will extend and expand IWF’s long-running Atlanta franchise 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 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.

IWF West: Driven by customer demand

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 the rapidly expanding Sunbelt marketplace.

IWF West: Custom built for attendees and exhibitors

To meet current and future attendee and exhibitor 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.
• Customized business-building learning and professional development opportunities featuring wood products technology and design experts in an intimate setting geared toward education.

IWF West: Where attendees and exhibitors want to do business.

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.

 

• “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.”
• In quantitative research* conducted among current IWF Atlanta exhibitors*, 56 percent liked the IWF West show concept with 64 percent 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 percent of buyers attending IWF 2024—the most recent Atlanta show—strongly endorsing the IWF West show idea.
• Said one potential attendee, “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.”

 

*Source: New Trade Show Concept Test study | MMR Research Associates | August 2025

IWF West: Prime location for North American Woodworking’s newest trade show and conference

IWF West will be produced at the Henry B. González Convention Center, San Antonio’s premier exhibition space nestled in the heart of the historic district of the Texas city.

 

• 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 country’s seventh-largest city. In Texas, only Houston is bigger.
• San Antonio is serviced by every major airline in the country and is a convenient drive from other big Texas cities such as Houston and Dallas. It is an easy flight from other important western areas in California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah.
• The city features more than 48,000 hotel rooms, including 15,000 downtown and over 4,000 within walking distance of the convention center.
• It is a city steeped in history, notably the Alamo, the former mission that became the last bastion for Texas freedom fighters including Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis in their battle against the Mexican army in 1836.
• The Alamo remains a solemn and popular tourist attraction, open for tours and is less than a ten-minute walk from the site of IWF West convention center.
• The city also has a wide variety of entertainment and dining options, led by the fabled Riverwalk that meanders through downtown and features boat rides, restaurants lining the shores and clubs and bars throughout. It is literally across the street from the convention center.