Hatters show off their new semicolon tattoos Saturday after a free event at Gas City Tattoos.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
A free tattoo event on the weekend raised more than $12,000 for mental health services in the community.
The event was held at Gas City Tattoos and is the second of its kind in the past couple months. The first was held by Fitu Taefu at the end of August, where he inked roughly 80 semicolon tattoos at the cost of an optional donation.
Saturday’s event featured 11 artists and was able to get to about 400 people, all with their own semicolon tattoo.
“It went really well,” said one of the organizers, Erin Taefu. “We had a couple goals for the day, and we reached and surpassed both of them.
“It was just a really successful day.”
The initial lineup of people was quite large, says Taefu, with some waiting hours to get their ink. Once the afternoon hit, the wait dropped to about 30 minutes per person.
“The line seemed pretty happy, people stuck out some pretty long wait times,” she said. “I think we got to everyone but five people by the end of the night.”
Money raised will go to SARC Medicine Hat and Medicine Hat family services.
“We’re so thankful for the support the community has shown,” Taefu said. “These are two great organizations in our community.”
People were encouraged to fill out postcards with thoughtful messages on them, and anyone with a postcard filled out is encouraged to get it to organizers.
Taeful says there are no more semicolon events planned for this year, abut that the group will be holding other events in the future.
To keep up with more events in the future, go to the For All the Brothers Facebook page.
