Tattoo shop, skateboard association team up to fight human trafficking

By Mo Cranker on September 28, 2018.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker

The Lucky Squid tattoo shop and the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association are teaming up to raise funds to fight human trafficking.

Eight tattoo artists, multiple piercers and a registered massage therapist will be on hand at the downtown shop from noon to midnight Saturday for the Skaters Against Trafficking event.

Tattoo prices will vary depending on how long they take but a minimum donation of $100 will be required to get work done. Piercing prices will also vary, but they will all come at a discounted rate.

“We’ve done this charity event for the past two years, and we’ve worked with a different group every time — this year we’re excited to be working with the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association,” said artist Olie Larsen. “We’re going to be tattooing, piercing, we’ll have a registered massage therapist and food trucks outside of the shop.

“We say we go from noon to midnight, but we’ll likely be going until 2 a.m. depending on the demand.”

The shop will have a book of flash designs ready to go but will accept small drawings if easy enough for an artist to draw in a short time period.

“It’s tough to say firm rules or anything about what size we will and won’t do because every piece is going to be different — a general rule is that a tattoo we do Saturday won’t be larger than the palm of your hand,” said Larsen. “If people are wanting a bigger piece then we’ll welcome them another day at the shop, but Saturday is about getting people smaller designs and to raise a bunch of money for charity.”

Larsen says the event is a way for artists to help out people who may be less fortunate — and that interest is growing every year.

“Doing this is a great way for us to give back now that we’re in a position where we can,” said Larsen. “This year, because there’s so much interest, we’ve got eight artists coming out.

“We’ll have some other artists from around the city and some friends from outside of the city coming in to donate their time Saturday to help out.”

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