Flash Tattoo fundraiser at Five Fathoms Tattoo on 31st Ave in Vernon (submitted photos/Facebook/Five Fathoms)

By Liam Verster

Over $33K Raised

Record funds raised at Flash Tattoo event

May 24, 2023 | 1:42 PM

A Vernon tattoo parlour raised a record total with the return of their charity event.

Five Fathoms Tattoo in Vernon brought back their Tattoo Charity Flash Day Sunday, May 21, where they had 22 artists, mainly from the Okanagan and the Lower Mainland, put on a tattooing marathon to benefit B.C. Children’s Hospital.

“We were able to complete 131 tattoos starting at 9 a.m. and we tattooed until after midnight,” Nick Matovich, owner of Five Fathoms Tattoo, told Vernon Matters.

“The tattoos ranged from simple quick ones to quite involved, like two-hour pieces kind of thing. The prices of tattoos started at $50 and the largest ones were up to $350.”

Matovich said the tattoos brought in the bulk of the money, but money was also collected for the cause from a concert held the night before, food sales from caterers and food trucks outside the tattoo shop on 31st Avenue raffles, and a lemonade stand ran by Matovich’s daughter.

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All together, the fifth time event brought in a record total.

“We just finished tallying it up and we just called our contact at B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation and our total was $33,625 this year,” Matovich said.

“So our best year ever was 2017 when we raised a little bit over $30,000, so we were able to beat our previous record and that feels great.”

He added the majority of the tattoos done were the bigger ones that cost $200, so while they may not have done as many tattoos as they managed in previous years, they were able to raise more money from the work they did.

Photos of the Tattoo Charity Flash Day courtesy of Five Fathoms Tattoo (Facebook)

Matovich stated about $2,100 was raised from the concert, $1,800 from the raffles, the food sales brought in between $1,000 and $1,500, and his daughter’s lemonade stand raised nearly $180. The remainder of the sum was collected through the tattooing.

The event, which has run pretty much every other year for the past decade was inspired by Matovich’s daughter, who has a heart condition and requires frequent visits to the Children’s Hospital.

“Since she was born she’s had three full-blown open heart surgeries and a few other procedures that come with her diagnosis. We actually have another surgery coming up in a month from now and we just spent a week not even a month ago due to an emergency she had,” Matovich said.

“It was a lot of planning to get this thing organized and pulled off and I considered holding off because of the stuff in our personal life, but we decided it was good to go ahead more than ever for those reasons just to reiterate how important that place is for so many families.”

Matovich considered the event a success not only because of the money they were able to raise but also the turnout and support seen from the public.

“This event has sort of grown over the years and we haven’t done it in four years so I think the hype was back up to what it was on our second and third year when it got really hyped up and a lot of people came out,” said Matovich, adding people camped outside the shop all night leading up to this year’s event.

“We did actually have to turn away [some people]. We got over 200 names on our list and we knew we wouldn’t be able to do that many tattoos logistically and time-wise and how long can a human stay awake. So we did have to go down the line and say ‘we really appreciate you guys coming out and lining up, I know you’ve been waiting, but realistically we’re gonna have to cut the line at this point,’ and I’d say most people were very understanding.”

Matovich said the tattoo marathon event, while in support of a good cause, does put the burden on the artists.

“There’s the work involved in making the tattoos (which were designed in advance and people could choose from a sheet of drawings at the charity event), painting the designs, and all these guys coming to town on their own dollar,” Matovich said.

“So it’s an enormous amount of effort and work from everyone involved and not only do we work for free, but it costs these guys money to come do this.”

Matovich said he plans to host the event in future years, but due to the aforementioned reasons he may consider running it once every three years or so, as opposed to every other year as done in the past with the exception of the four year break between the COVID-19 pandemic and the most recent event.

He is also considering streamlining the sign up process by having an online first-come-first-serve or lottery style sign-up open ahead of future events to make sure people aren’t camped out all day and not be able to get a tattoo.

“It has maybe gotten a little bigger than we can handle in that format, so we might sort of pivot if we do it again and think of a way we can build a list in advance and avoid people coming and not being able to partake.”

Matovich added the first iteration of the Five Fathom Tattoo Charity Flash Day in 2013 raised about $16,000, the 2015 and 2017 events both raised close to the $30,000 mark, and the 2019 charity flash day raised around $28,000. Including the money raised from this year’s event, the tattoo parlour has raised a total of more than $137,000 for B.C. Children’s Hospital.

by Liam Verster

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