Inkin' the Valley & the Sideshow Gathering Annual Tattoo Convention Premiere body piercing, contests & varied entertainment are also part of the show.
Founded in 1994 by the late Franco Kossa, the Inkin' the Valley Tattoo Convention is one of the largest annual artist gatherings held in Wilkes-Barre, PA, and justifiably has the reputation of being one of the best tattoo shows on the East Coast. Not your typically huge convention as some tattoo shows have become in the past decade, Inkin' the Valley has maintained a close knit family feel & a sel
ective palette of top notch tattooists. This invitational show has featured both internationally renowned masters of the art and up & coming artists as well including Buffalo Bill Tarr, Terry Manning, Neil England and Kevin Shercliff (who was voted England's Best Tattoo Artist three times), and, of course, many local talented artists. Over the years, Inkin' the Valley has carved itself a solid place in the national tattoo convention circuit, many making it into their yearly vacation destination. Historically, the convention has been presided over by Chris "the Mayor of Tattooville" Longo. Now being Hosted and directed by Ink Splotch Productions, whom will add new and prosperous life to the convention with lots of improvements and a world of Artist & Vendor relations from all over the U.S. The Sideshow Gathering – since its inception an integral part of the Inkin’ the Valley Tattoo Convention – is the oldest such gathering of performers and their audience in the history of the business. Founded by showman and sideshow fan Franco Kossa, it was created as a means to recognize the best of the new sideshow while honoring the great names in the business from previous eras. Besides having been the first exposure to sideshow of many who are names in the business today, the annual Sideshow Gathering has been featured in international media, by Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and has twice been at the core of nationally televised documentaries devoted to the history of sideshow and variety entertainment. Besides providing nearly three full days of sideshow, burlesque and variety entertainment, the Gathering has also featured lectures on the history of the variety arts and regularly hosts an assortment of oddity museums and historical displays as well as full-scale props and stage magic illusions. The Gathering’s Saturday night auction of oddities and collectibles on the business of sideshow remains one of the only regularly scheduled events of its type in the world. In recent years, Tyler Fyre of the Lucky Devil Sideshow has emceed the virtually non-stop sideshow performances.
