© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Bikers Bring Appetite for Ink to Motorcycle Week

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

And if you think those Dutch fans at the World Cup were showing some skin, you should check out the scene in New Hampshire at Motorcycle Rally Week. There's plenty of exposed flesh, much of it covered in plenty of ink.

Reporter Shannon Mullen went to check out the tattoos.

SHANNON MULLEN reporting:

On Weirs Beach Boulevard in Laconia, it seems like people who have tattoos far outnumber those who don't. Ron Lafort(ph) from Massachusetts has his shoulders covered in ink and the word infantry tattooed across his chest.

Mr. RON LAFORT (Motorcyclist): Everyone's getting them. It's just, it's like a sickness, it's spreading. It's awesome. You can look at people's tattoos and tell what they've done, where they've been. It just says a lot about people.

Mr. KEVIN BLAZE(ph) (Motorcyclist): My name is Kevin Blaze, Salem, New Hampshire, and I just have tattoos, they tell a story of things I like. I'm a fireman so I have a firefighter tattoo. There's a fireman carrying a woman out of a burning building.

Mr. DERRICK POMERON(ph) (Motorcyclist): My name's Derrick Pomeron from New London, Connecticut. Basically I got tattoos all over the place and they're all skulls, demons, and flames. Little Harley Davidson stuff here and there, you know, not many mermaids and anchors anymore.

MULLEN: Demons and skulls.

Mr. POMERON: Yeah, skulls and flames, yeah.

MULLEN: Tattoos have changed a lot since patriotic symbols and names and hearts were popular in the 1940's. Every year just for bike week some temporary tattoo parlors set up at both ends of the boulevard.

(Soundbite of tattoo gun)

Inside the Tattoo Zoo, artist Big Steve Pulpert(ph) is starting an outline on a customer's lower back.

Mr. STEVE PULPERT (Tattoo artist, Tattoo Zoo): I've got, like, at least five clients that come here every year, they wait for me all year and they come in and they get big work.

MULLEN: Pulpert says as tattoos have become more acceptable in America, it might surprise some people to know who's getting them.

Mr. PULPERT: Doctors, lawyers, judges, bikers, most, yeah, but I'd say the majority of my clients at home are women, to be honest. I do, men tend to get bigger tattoos, but more women get tattooed than men, I think.

MULLEN: Actually it's about even, but women tend to get tattoos in places where the rest of us won't see them. Another solution for anyone else who might still be afraid of the stigma, there's tattoo ink now that you can't see, except under a black light.

For NPR News, I'm Shannon Mullen. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Shannon Mullen

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.