The 12th Annual Electric City Tattoo Convention was held this weekend on the second floor of the Hilton Hotel in downtown Scranton.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
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A map of the second floor was tacked onto the walls, helping guests navigate the maze of rooms and booths. Over a dozen vendors and approximately 180 tattoo artists from all across the country participated in this weekend’s event.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
In addition to getting some new ink, attendees were able to shop around more than a dozen vendors as well as enter their tattoos into several contests for the chance to win cash prizes.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
SCRANTON — If you walked into the Hilton Hotel in downtown Scranton this weekend, chances are your ears were immediately hit with the sound of more than 100 tattoo machines, all buzzing at once.
The persistent hum, filtering down from the second floor and into the lobby, beckoned to those eager for some new ink as the 12th Annual Electric City Tattoo Convention moved into its final day.
“Everybody’s been busy,” said Elijah Birtel, co-owner of Electric City Tattoo and “right-hand man” to convention organizer, James “Woody” Wodock. This year, Birtel was tasked with organizing the tattoo contests, and with everyone constantly working, it proved a challenge for him to find judges.
The bulk of the contests took place on Friday and Saturday, with Sunday’s Tattoo of the Day being the final contest of the convention. Birtel said they tried to cover “the basic styles of tattoos” with categories ranging from Best Realism Tattoo to Best Tribal Tattoo. Artists won trophies for their work, while the wearer of the tattoo received a gift bag and a small cash prize.
Despite struggling to find time for artists to judge the contests, Birtel seemed more than pleased with the turnout this year.
“It was a great weekend, definitely,” Birtel said. “Nice and relaxed. There were no major problems and everybody seemed pretty happy.”
The convention was a reunion of sorts for both artists and attendees. Because a majority of the artists return year after year, Birtel said it was a great opportunity to catch up with one another and check out each other’s work.
According to Birtel, roughly 180 tattoo artists from across the country participated in this weekend’s convention.
Looking up at the second floor from the lobby, it was hard to imagine how that many people could fit into such a small space. The floor plan, however, was deceiving.
There was actually a maze of rooms up there and over the weekend, artists’ booths lined every inch of them. Swarms of people walked up and down the aisles, browsing portfolios. Many had plastic wrapped around their arms or legs, protecting their new tattoos from infection. There was not a single booth without a customer behind it.
There were vendors too, selling everything from antiques to hand-made crafts. In the lobby, Loyalty Barber Shop offered haircuts and sold merch.
Brianne Sienkiewicz, of Middletown, N.Y., was just happy to be a part of it all. Sienkiewicz, who had been to the convention several times in the past, said that while she was open to getting a tattoo this year, it probably wasn’t going to happen because of how busy everyone was.
“Even so,” she said, “it was just cool to see their work.”
For tattoo artist and owner of Small World Tattoo, Tom Veling, this year’s convention was special because it was his first one in nearly 10 years. Looking around at the crowd of people hovering near his booth, Veling seemed proud.
“It’s nice to be back,” he said, simply.