By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Veterans Day Tattoo Marathon at BroadWing in downtown Bowling Green was well underway. Artists were busy inking images on clients, and clients and workers who were not busy were noshing on food provided by Sunset Bistro.
Tyler Brott. the owner of BroadWing, was adding the Rush logo onto Justin Bailey’s left leg. That’s his music leg, Bailey explained.
He’s a regular at the shop and has the ink to prove it. But he made a point of coming in on Monday when all the proceeds from tattoos, $150 each, and piercings, are donated to the VA Ann Arbor Health Center.
That’s where Brott’s father, David D Brott was treated for the cancer caused by his exposure to Agent Orange during his Army service in the Vietnam War.
The elder Brott died in 2014. The Veteran’s Day following his passing, his son, who had just opened BroadWing the year before, held the first Tattoo Marathon.
The money raised goes to pay for mental health care, transportation, and medical care for area veterans.
“It’s a big hospital,” Tyler Brott said. “They have a lot of resources, but they still don’t have enough.”
According to office manager Jax Foster, the shop expects to bring in something more $6,000 on Monday. That’s on par what was raised in each of the previous eight years.
Some of the customers are veterans, some have family members who served, some just wanted to contribute to a good cause.
Matt Nagel was there in honor of his father, Dave Nagel, who served with the Marines in Vietnam. This was his third year participating in the marathon.
Like Bailey, he was adding to the art already adorning his body. He favors more traditional designs. On Monday evening , he would be adding a torch.
Vanessa Richmond was on a bed as April Reed inked a heart on her leg. The heart was made up of the fingerprints of her parents.
Richmond said it was fun to be donating to a good cause while honoring her parents.
The event itself was a family affair. Sunset Bistro is owned and operated by Tyler Brott’s sister Prudy, and his other sister Renée was also on hand as was their mother Raye Brott.
The mom displayed a tattoo that her son inked on her left arm the second year the marathon was held. It read: “Death followed him home Agent Orange.”
She said that the first marathon just months after her husband’s death did help her deal with his passing.
“I thought it was just a perfect way to give back.”
It’s not her only tattoo. She has another of her parents embracing after he returned from service.
And on her lower leg she has a heart. That was Tyler Brott’s first tattoo.
“I kind of fell into it,” Tyler Brott said of her entry into the craft. A couple artists had seen his drawings and suggested he try tattooing.
His mother said the drawings were those he supplied as guides for tattoos he was getting.
So, she offered her leg for his maiden effort.
Brott said her son had shown a talent for drawing since he was a child drawing elaborate 3D sketches. She thought may be he’d become an architect. But, Tyler Brott said, he didn’t do well in school.
Being a tattoo artist suits him. “Basically I’m making my own coloring books and filling them,” he said. “It’s the most relaxing way to spend all day.”
On this particular day and night, it was also a way to raise money to honor his father and help other veterans.
