On a hot summer morning, the employees at the tattoo shop Addictions in Ink in west Wichita are prepping for the day.
Normally, you have to schedule an appointment to get inked up by one of the artists, but not today. Friday the 13th is a day where many tattoo shops offer something called a “Flash Event,” where walk-ins are welcome if they choose a tattoo from a list of preset designs.
“I think we're gonna have a decent turnout. We had a line at the door this earlier this morning,” said tattoo apprentice Taylor Perez.
She and a couple of other artists have set aside their day to handle walk-ins as well as offer illustrations of their own as flash designs.
“We have our flash displayed up there in different prices and sizes and everything. And then they'll just come in, pick out what they want,” said Perez. “I kind of just designed things based off of Friday the 13th, maybe a little spooky.”
“This is the third Friday the 13th event that I've done,” said Jo Peyla, another artist participating in the event. “I love doing them. I think they're super fun. I like to draw flash designs. I usually do 13 designs for people to pick from that are kind of themed around the time of year that it's taking place. So I've got pride-themed flash and summer-themed flash for this one.”
Bryan Parsons is the owner of Addictions in Ink, as well as an organizer for October's Wichita Emerald City Tattoo Convention. While flash events only happen on Friday the 13th, people attending the convention can also get on-demand tattoos.
“There'll be a lot of people doing the little, tiny tattoos, just like Friday 13th,” said Parsons. And then there'll be people doing extremely large pieces. We'll have a lot of tattoo contests, people trying to do the best work they can out there.”
A couple of customers at the shop have opted to get the same tattoo. It’s one of Taylor Perez’s designs and features an image of Jason Voorhees, the iconic killer from the Friday the 13th horror franchise, peeking through broken glass.
“I just saw someone mention that, you know, a tattoo artist sometimes did Friday the 13th kind of events,” said Sean Blumenshine. “And I've always really liked Jason in those movies. It just seemed like a fun thing to do.”
“I was actually born on Friday the 13th. So it's kind of a special thing,” said Leslie McQuillan.
For Bryan Parsons, getting the same tattoo as someone else can tie you back to a time and place, “It’s kind of cool when people kind of get together, and they kind of can remember that same event and stuff, and they can have matching tattoos from the same day.”
The next Friday the 13th is in February 2026.
