Five Fathoms Tattoos on 31st Ave. will hold its Charity Flash Day fundraiser for B.C. Children's Hospital May 21 (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

Charity flash day

Tattoo parlour holding marathon to raise funds for B.C. Children’s Hospital

May 3, 2023 | 6:00 AM

Five Fathoms Tattoo in Vernon is bringing back it’s Charity Flash Day fundraiser.

The event sees tattoo artists come together for a marathon day of tattooing patrons, with all the money raised going to the B.C. Children’s Hospital.

“Flash tattooing is a genre in tattooing where an artist creates sheets of designs,” Nick Matovich, owner and artist at Five Fathoms Tattoo told Vernon Matters.

“So we’ve invited around 20 artists from around the Okanagan and the Lower Mainland, a couple guys from east of us like Revelstoke and possibly a couple from Alberta that all join us and they each bring a sheet of designs for people to choose from and we tattoo from 9 a.m. that day until basically as late as we can go.”

The Five Fathoms Tattoo Charity Flash Day has run four times in the past several years, with Matovich saying previous events have seen the artists work until approximately 1 a.m. the following day.

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The event is set to go Sunday, May 21 at the shop on 31st Avenue, beside Surplus Herby’s.

“It’s first come first serve, and all the designs are basically displayed the day of and it’s only tattooing those designs for people to choose from, but there will be literally hundreds of designs to choose from,” Matovich said.

The tattoos range in size and in pricing, with the smallest being about toonie-sized and costing roughly $50, and the largest being about the size of an open palm which, if in colour, could cost up to $350.

Matovich noted previous years have seen people line up outside the shop overnight to get on the list, and hopes to see similar turnouts this year.

In addition to the tattooing, there will be a raffle, food trucks and live music in the neighbouring Surplus Herby’s parking lot.

The promotional poster for Five Fathoms Tattoos’ Charity Flash Day fundraiser (image courtesy of Nick Matovich)

Every dollar raised from the event goes to B.C. Children’s Hospital, which Matovich and others have close ties.

“My daughter has spent a lot of time [at B.C. Children’s Hospital] and we’re actually here right now,” Matovich told Vernon Matters.

“My good friend Lucas Ford, who’s a tattooer in Salmon Arm, he owns a tattoo supply company called Good Guy Supply and they actually donate all the disposables and medical supplies needed for us to have such a big day of tattooing. His son also has the same heart condition as my daughter, which is called hypoplastic left heart syndrome.”

Over the four previous events, the Charity Flash Day raised a total of over $100,000

The event hasn’t run since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic but Matovich hopes to see a well attended event this year.

“[Our] bigger events, 2017 and 2015, we were both over $30,000 [raised] so if we can get beyond that we’d be thrilled.”