Inkcarceration Festival 2018 – Day 3

Mansfield, Ohio (July 15, 2018) – Day 3 – A summer festival like no other with over 30 bands and 70 tattoo artists located at the historic Ohio State Reformatory, home of the Shawshank Prison. It was HOT all weekend, but seemingly even more so as the last day of the festival arrived, the heat was turned up to the max with no shade in sight. Even with 90+ degrees and blue skies, hard core fans were not deterred, as they showed up in force to take in all the heavy metal they could. Two stages with alternating bands playing in succession, what could be better than the backdrop being the Ohio State Reformatory, no matter the weather.

If the festival wasn’t enough, zombies, monsters and freakish ghouls were in full force haunting the reformatory and festival grounds promoting Blood Prison. Scaring those not paying attention and filling the reformatory with echoing screams as if the place wasn’t haunted enough. Something about these elements being all together, the reformatory, tattoo artists, and heavy metal music made it seem this was the perfect gathering to keep the ghoulish entertainment rolling all weekend.

In addition for things to do, there was the traveling side show circus Hellzapoppin which was sure to attract those not afraid of bizarre acts that will make the meek squeamish and shrug the shy in discomfort. As Hellzapoppin’s website claims, “We’re mavericks, trail blazers, rebels, rule breakers, outlaws, true inhibited artists”. Enter at your own risk and be entertained as only a traveling side show circus can!

As much as music was part of the festival, INKcarceration was all about tattoos where inside the reformatory, were over 70 tattoo artists from all over. Nice and cool in the reformatory, it was a great time to get a tattoo. During my several passes through, tattoo artists were busy applying ink to those adding to, or getting their very first tattoo. The list of tattoo artists was extensive, and if interested in following up with who was there, here’s a link to the INKcarceration Tattoo line-up.