{"id":166127,"date":"2026-04-15T04:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T04:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/166127\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T04:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T04:40:08","slug":"tattoo-conventions-cater-to-growing-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/166127\/","title":{"rendered":"Tattoo conventions cater to growing audience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up, Tara Conrad never thought she\u2019d get tattoos. The older generation warned that tattoo parlors were no place for nice girls. But now the 50-year-old Scranton romance novelist and homemaker is part of the broadening market for tattoos.<\/p>\n

She and her husband and adult children all have tattoos. \u201cI think we\u2019re really pretty normal people,\u201d she said. The shops she uses are safe and fun, she said.<\/p>\n

She hopes to stop by the 15th Electric City Tattoo Convention this weekend. More than 230 tattoo artists will bring their needles to the Hilton Scranton and Convention Center from Friday through Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re from all over the place,\u201d said Woody Wodock. He\u2019s a partner at Electric City Tattoo in Scranton, which organizes the convention.<\/p>\n

\"Tara<\/p>\n

Tara Conrad has a tattoo of book covers. (COURTESY OF TARA CONRAD.)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People gather at the 2024 Electric City Tattoo Convention. CHRISTOPHER DOLAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 2<\/p>\n

Tara Conrad has a tattoo of book covers. (COURTESY OF TARA CONRAD.)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Wodock said the market for tattoos has been expanding since the 1980s. Later, reality TV spread the fashion for tattoos, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s become more socially acceptable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Disney and the Army have both loosened their tattoo policies in recent years. The percentage of American adults with tattoos grew from around 21% in 2012 to more than 30% in 2019, according to Ipsos, a market research firm.<\/p>\n

There is still a reputational risk. Around three in 10 people without tattoos say ink gives a more negative than positive impression, according to the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n

Women are more likely than men to have tattoos, the Pew Research Center found, something that would have once been shocking. More than half of women ages 18 to 49 have at least one tattoo.<\/p>\n

Conrad organizes the Electric City Love Con romance readers convention. She invited Electric City Tattoo to last year\u2019s event. \u201cThey were busy from beginning to end,\u201d she said. Conrad got tattoo versions of her book covers.<\/p>\n

Many styles of tattoos will be available at the convention. Right now, handwriting transfers are \u201csuper popular,\u201d Wodock said. Customers bring in a sample of a loved one\u2019s handwriting, sometimes from an old birthday card or driver\u2019s license, as a template.<\/p>\n

Tattoo prices start around $80 locally and go much higher, he said.<\/p>\n

Contacting artists though the list on the website electriccitytattoo.com<\/a> is the best way to start prepping for the convention, Wodock said. Some will require appointments. Others will take walk-in customers who bring their own designs or choose from \u201cflash,\u201d a preset menu of designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve never gotten tattooed, you can check out what\u2019s going on and see if it\u2019s for you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wodock, 44, started getting tattoos 20 years ago. \u201cIt was just something that happened one day,\u201d he said. As his tastes have changed, he likes some more than others.<\/p>\n

His tattoos include a chicken, a cat, a panther and his son\u2019s name on the figure of a sad cowboy. \u201cI have one of Annie Oakley on the back of my leg that I really like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Vendors will also offer piercings, tattoo-related merchandise, crafts and crystals.<\/p>\n

If You Go<\/p>\n

What: The Electric City Tattoo Convention will bring in over 230 tattoo artists.<\/p>\n

When: Friday, 3-11 p.m.; Saturday, noon-11 p.m.; Sunday, noon-8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Where: Hilton Scranton and Conference Center, 100 Adams Ave., Scranton.<\/p>\n

Tickets: A one-day pass is $20 and a three-day pass is $50. Sales are cash only at the door. There are no advance ticket sales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up, Tara Conrad never thought she\u2019d get tattoos. The older generation warned that tattoo parlors were no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[6359,201,182,28,178,180,179,289,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-166127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-fashion","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-scranton","13":"tag-scranton-headlines","14":"tag-scranton-news","15":"tag-things-to-do","16":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}