The Puget Sound Bead Festival began in 1996 and is owned and operated by Viki & Mark Lareau of The Bead Factory Incorporated in Tacoma, Washington. Our show has moved venues four times to accommodate our ever growing list of vendors, class selections and attendance.

Now in its fifteenth year with 70 vendors, 100 classes and expected attendance this year at around 5,000, the PSBF is the largest national bead show on the west coast.

PSBF draws all levels of beaders from all over the country, even from Canada and Japan! Each year as the show grows and our class selection increases, so does our attendance and the show's national appeal.

Fourteen years of attendance has taught us a lot about our attendees. PSBF attendees are almost 99% women, mostly professional, well educated women with a household income above $70,000. Beading is their therapy, it's what they turn to for relaxation, and as a creative outlet. Also fashion driven, these women crave higher quality materials than can be found in a local craft store. In our bead store, The Bead Factory, we have built our total business model on the concept of catering to this contemporary beader. Offering her classes in all the latest jewelry techniques and showing her how she can make fashionable jewelry herself feeds her need to be createive and thrive in a social setting.

PSBF is a spin off of that concept in a trade show setting. Our purpose is to bring all those high quality bead merchants and national bead instructors to the Pacific Northwest. Each year we try to increase the quality of the show by adding features and services to enhance the attendees experience.

But regardless of how big we grow, our show philosophies are the same: to deliver a bead show unlike any other, with the highest quality vendors, classes & show services for the vendor, teachers, students and attendees. No matter how one is involved with our show you are treated like family to create an atmosphere that is inspiring, creative, and fun!

We hope that this is your experience. Anything we can be of help with, directions, class selection, travel info…please don’t hesitate to call me or one of our show's assistants.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Happy Beading!

Viki Lareau ~ Show Producer
Melissa Lovejoy Goldman ~ NWBF General Manager