Your full guide to Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival 2024

MANSFIELD — In a few days, the population of Mansfield will grow by around 75,000 as the Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival returns to the historic Ohio State Reformatory. 

The festival — held July 19 to 21 — officially starts Friday, but festival goers who plan to camp at the Richland County Fairgrounds are expected to arrive Thursday.

Here’s everything you need to know — whether you hold a ticket or not.

Traffic delays & closures

Beware of congested streets, the Mansfield Police Department has said. 

“Due to the high volume of traffic, delays in the area surrounding the site of the event are expected to occur,” reads an MPD press release from earlier this month. 

Olivesburg Road will close from 7 a.m. July 18 until 4 a.m. July 22.

There will also be temporary road closures and traffic lane changes along North Main Street, Fifth Avenue and U.S. Route 30. 

Police also expect delays to the normal flow of traffic in the areas of: 

• State Route 13, from Harker Street to Harrington Memorial Road.
• State Route 545 between Wayne Street and Piper Road
• East Longview Avenue between North Main Street and Olivesburg Road
• U.S. Route 30 between U.S. Route 42 and North Trimble Road in both directions

Police encourage local motorists to avoid the area and plan ahead for alternate routes.

Insider tip: use OHGO online and via mobile app for live traffic closures and delays. 

Food and bands

There are 23 food trucks dishing up cuisine to festival goers — three hail from Richland County (Athens Greek Truck, Grunts Grub and Mad Meltz.) Click here for a full list, and scroll down to “Commissary.”

Inkcarceration will again feature three stages with three full days of music. Headlining this year’s festival is Shinedown, Godsmack and Breaking Benjamin. 

Other performers include The Offspring, Bad Omens, Halestorm, Parkway Drive, I Prevail, Chevelle and Dropkick Murphys. 

Richland Source’s own Adam Doc Fox spent time recently with Tim Brennan, the lead guitarist for Dropkick Murphys.

This year’s event also marks Chimaira’s first U.S. festival appearance in 14 years.

Check out the full lineup here. If you’re going to the festival, download the event’s app, where you can keep track of band’s sets and times.

Tattoos

Though most ticket holders are there for the music, some also go for the body art. And some, the tattoo artists themselves, compete in seven categories that judges decide on through the weekend. 

There are seven categories and three winners are chosen in each. Best in Show, the crown jewel, is chosen on Sunday. 

Hundreds of festival goers get inked during the event, inside the historical Ohio State Reformatory.

You have to have a pass to the festival in order to get a tattoo from one of the 115 artists. 

Artists come from as far as Kansas City and New York. But some of them work at shops around here, like at Envious Ink, located on Lexington Avenue in Mansfield. 

Hotels and camping

The festival partnered with six area hotels. All of those ticket packages (from $1,500 to $3,200) have sold out and are only available now through joining a waitlist. 

Camping tickets — either tent or RV camping — sold out. Prices for those tickets went for $250 to $500. Campers get something new this year, in the form of partying non-stop.

On Thursday, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., the festival’s campground will come to life with a pre-party, a new feature this year for the thousands of camping ticket holders. 

Thursday’s pre-party features karaoke, a live performance by Southbound Beretta, a DJ rock party by Juke Joint and a screening of I Stand Alone: The Sully Erna Story — a documentary featuring Godsmack’s lead singer.

The parties continue each night starting at 11:30, which includes live music, drinks and late-night eats at the outdoor camping lounge and stage.

Want a ticket?

The festival typically sells out. But organizers said that 97% of tickets have been sold as of July 12.

That means you can still buy single day and three-day passes here. They start at $120, plus fees and taxes.

New to Mansfield?

If you’re new here, check out this guide for restaurants, cafés, things to do and places to visit between sets.

Below are some great spots, close to the venue, to grab a bite, drink, visit or shop.

Eat

• Coney Island (50s diner)
• Mansfield Family Restaurant (more homey diner food, less 50s paraphernalia)
• Uncle Johns Place (burgers and beer)
• Wiener King (the world’s last)
• The Leaning Tower of Pizza (good ‘za bruh)
• Two Cousins Pizza Co. (also good ‘za)
• Dan Lew Exchange, aka DLX (fancier options of Asian fusion eats and cocktails)
• Hudson & Essex (fine dining)

Drink

• The Clubhouse (favorite local dive bar for the millennial in your group)
• The Warehouse Tavern (great selection)
• The Phoenix Brewing Co. (local brewery)
• The Spirit Room at the Phoenix (whiskey and spirits)
• Martini’s on Main (the bar where you wanna splurge a bit)
• Red Fox Tavern (favorite local dive bar for the Boomer in your group)

Other cool spots

• Blackbird Records (records store)
• Brasshouse Boardroom (skate shop)
• Relax, It’s Just Coffee (coffee and sweets)
• Swavory (crepes, popcorn and other treats)
• Kingwood Center and Gardens (spot the peacocks and zinnias)

INK: a primer on how it all started

The event has been around, in one form or another, for a decade. 

It started as a small tattoo festival in the banquet hall at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield in 2014. In 2015, the Ohio State Reformatory hosted. By 2016, the event — known as Ink in the Clink — drew 90 tattoo artists, 36 bands and roughly 300 cars for a related car show. 

By 2017, the festival grew by thousands, drawing 11,000 ticket holders for the weekend. But a lawsuit surrounding the owners of the event eventually led to OSR’s abandonment as a host site. 

Ink in the Clink’s owners — Ricky and Susan Fields — tried to pivot by hosting the three-day festival at the Richland County Fairgrounds. But the county severed ties, too, leaving the festival without a host site just six months before its start.

At the time, OSR said it canceled the event “in lieu of recent events surrounding the Ink In The Clink” but promised to host a bigger and better festival dubbed “Inkcarceration.” 

The festival continued as Inkcarceration in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, organizers canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2021, the festival has been co-produced by Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP) and Reinkarceration LLC. 

DWP also produces eight other festivals that happen each year in cities like Sacramento, Louisville and Daytona.

The festival estimates it led to around $10 million being invested back into Richland County’s local economy in 2023.

Dan Janssen, co-found and general manager of Inkcarceration said the festival was built on “the foundation of community and passion.”

“We wanted to create a home for those who love all things rock, metal, and body art, and as we head into our sixth year celebrating three consecutive sold-out events, we’ve accomplished just that,” he said.