UPDATED (4:36 p.m.) MANSFIELD — The Richland County Fairgrounds is now the second entity to sever ties with the Ink In The Clink tattoo and music festival.
According to Jason Snyder, president of the Richland County Agricultural Society, the Fairgrounds cut ties because of poor publicity the event has received. The event was scheduled to take place the weekend of July 13, 14 and 15.
“We apologize to the public we couldn’t notify them sooner,” said Snyder. “But we had to wait to hear back from our legal council.”
Cancelling the event at the Fairgrounds was addressed by Ink In The Clink via a Facebook post on Thursday morning.
The tattoo and music festival had taken place at The Ohio State Reformatory (OSR) since 2015, but the historic prison announced on Monday, Jan. 22 they would not be renewing their contract.
“In lieu of recent events surrounding the Ink In The Clink (IITC) tattoo and music festival, this event will be discontinued at OSR,” said Executive Director Paul Smith. “We felt it necessary to address the ongoing dialogue directly and provide the community with a better understanding of our decision to not renew the IITC contract.
“(The Mansfield Reformatory) and OSR stand by our commitment to provide a venue for community-oriented events and programs, all of which aid in the fundraising to support our restoration and preservation mission,” Smith continued. “We will continue to look for quality partners to host unique events because the benefits of those events extend beyond the Reformatory and make a real impact on Richland County communities.”
The festival was then moved to the Richland County Fairgrounds before the contract was terminated.
The Ohio State Reformatory will have a new music and tattoo festival, INKcarceration. The festival will take place on July 13, 14 and 15, 2018.
“This event will be larger than all previous years and will include the prison tour, food, drinks, 100’s of tattoo artists, vendors and an amazing lineup of some of the best Rock and Metal bands in the WORLD,” according to the OSR website.
Ink In The Clink organizers Rickey Joe Fields and Susan Fields are currently involved in a lawsuit with Michael Kaminsky of Medina over millions of dollars in proceeds from the 2017 Ink In The Clink event that the Fields allegedly owe to Kaminsky.
Kaminsky filed a lawsuit on Oct. 26, 2017 against Rickey Joe Fields and Susan Fields as well as their establishment, Whiskey Warehouse. The contract was an oral contract, according to the suit.
Lawsuit complaint against IITC
“Defendants used funds received from third parties (to be used for Ink In The Clink purposes) in advance of the event to pay for other event expenses because defendants did not have the money on their own to operate the event,” said Attorney Timothy Weyls of Weyls Peters and Chuparkoff, an Independence-based law firm who filed the suit.
The Ink In The Clink organization is being represented by Nolan T. James of the Cavitch, Familo, & Durkin Co., L.P.A. firm based in Cleveland. In a call to Richland Source at approximately 4:30 p.m. James said there are some untrue things in the lawsuit.
The suit claims nearly 48,000 tickets were sold for the festival at an average ticket price of $55, equating a ticket revenue of $2.6 million. Around $850,000 more in revenue was generated from advertising, in addition to alcohol revenue totaling around $200,000, parking revenue around $50,000, and booth rental fees from tattoo artists around $200,000.
James said he knows less than 8,000 tickets were sold at the event, and is estimating 7,600 tickets were sold.
“We’re looking at $418,000 not $2.6 million,” he said. “The sponsorships were not true sponsorships. Monster Energy (a sponsor) had a free booth and was allowed to hand out free energy drinks. It was seen more as something to enhance the event.”
According to the suit, Kaminsky paid around $28,250 by check or electronic funds transfer to the Fields in Medina and around $27,000 to an account in the name of Whiskey Warehouse – an account was supposed to be only used for the Ink In The Clink event.
The Fields’ Whiskey Warehouse Bar & Grill, located on Fourth Street in Mansfield, appears to have closed. A Facebook page once associated with the bar has been removed, and the phone number to the bar has been disconnected.
James said he and his client are not willing to talk about next steps, but a countersuit is not off the table.
“Any good lawyer would discuss (a countersuit for defamation) with their client,” he said.
