This is the week after the NW championships and is happening during the NW show -
http://www.geekgamer.tv/nwpinballshow2012/
All the heavyweight "A" players will be at IFPA, which will make it a lot easier to qualify/compete in this. Anyone who's never been to a pinball show, should go anyways as it's really fun to play a bunch of machines you've never seen before. Having a $20 tournament to participate in while you there only sweetens the deal. It's basically the same as the Pintoberfest. You get 12 tickets and try and qualify on 5 machines with scoring like showdown/nw championships.
Plus the tournament is on Saturday only, so you could go up and come back in the same day.