MANSFIELD — Liam McGarrigle has traveled across the pond from England to the United States several times.
But what’s kept him coming back? Here’s a hint — musical festivals.
McGarrigle said he’s attended several Danny Wimmer Presents festivals.
This year marked his second trip to Mansfield for Inkcarceration at the Ohio State Reformatory.
He had the flag of England draped around his shoulders as he walked around the festival grounds, gathering signatures from passersby.
Atmospheres and lineups are just a couple of reasons why McGarrigle continues to travel internationally for festivals like Ink.
“Festivals are so much better over here compared to back home,” he said Friday. “I just try to come over every time there’s a big festival here.”
Canada supplied the wildfire smoke — and plenty of fans
The festival’s opening day was surrounded by an unusual atmosphere largely fueled by smoke from Canadian wildfires.
But this thick haze wasn’t Canada’s only contribution to Ink. America’s neighbors to the north also sent plenty of metalheads.
A group of five from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada made about a six-hour journey to attend the festival. Kitchener is about an hour southwest of Toronto. This year marked the group’s second trip to Ink.
“The music and the people. The people are so friendly,” Randy said of the atmosphere which brought them back for a second straight year.
As for the wildfire smoke, Saturday’s sky and air quality levels were greatly improved from the day prior.
Randy said they sent the smoke back.
Below are crowd photos taken Friday and Saturday at Inkcarceration on the grounds of the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. (Credit: Hayden Gray) The story continues below.
A nationwide — and global — attendance
Richland Source asked festivalgoers where they traveled from via a Facebook group for Inkcarceration fanatics.
Solely based from the comment section of this post, 40 of the country’s 50 states were represented at this year’s festival. Internationally, a few commenters said they traveled from Australia, Canada, Finland and Turkey.
Here are the responses that came in, categorized alphabetically by location:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Australia
- California
- Canada
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Finland
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Turkey
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
