The 5th annual Roc City Tattoo Expo was held recently, always a great show with a talented, international artist roster. Our shop has participated since the first year, and it is rare to find such a quality convention in our area. We travel a lot, and it’s nice to have one so close! I had the luxury of driving home and sleeping in my own bed, and still spent the day (and a decent portion of the night) with the guys, and enjoying the area.
I drove up early in the day on Saturday, and along the way to Rochester from Ithaca…there are wineries. The west side of the Cayuga Wine Trail is a short jaunt up Rte89. It’s a scenic drive up the lake (versus Rte96 which is inland), and passes Taughannock falls park and overlook. I didn’t have time to stall, and since I’ve worked on the wine trail in the past, I skipped the wineries for a stop that I rarely get a chance to make. I visited the Canandaigua NY Wine & Culinary Center, which houses a fantastic assortment of wines and spirits from a variety of local producers.
Once in Roc City, your options are several. This is such a foodie city, complete with everything from the local delicacy of a ‘garbage plate’- a mess of red hots, fries, macaroni salad, all together, best eaten after 2am.
Roc City Brewpub is a fantastic option for a great meal and some fantastic in house brews. With names like ‘Vern’ and ‘Sex Panther’, the beers are likewise named, quality without pretense-have some fun, relax. I had both, and can agree the beer is well balanced without any hops snobbery.
It’s not booze, but it will make the tattoo wife happy-Hedonist Chocolates has divine chocolates in amazing flavors. This spot I missed somehow, but was gifted by the smart tattoo husband with pistachio ginger dark chocolate bark. The good men know, chocolate will forgive any multitude of sins, even preemptively. He ran into a fellow tattooer there as well, another in the know artist and husband.
As for the Roc City tattoo convention itself, do not miss this one! The artist list is international, exclusive in the best possible way, and truly represents the best in the tattoo industry. HOF has been involved since the inaugural year, and I would go on record as saying its the best show in our area, hands down. Check out the artist list here: artists at Roc City 2013 and look at the work offered. If you want a real tattoo convention without traveling for multiple hours, Upstate New Yorkers…this is it. Jet DiProjetto and his crew at Love Hate Tattoo are responsible for one hell of a weekend of tattoo artistry and entertainment-thank you Roc City, a great time as always…and we’ll see you next year!
