Trae sends in this pic of Decatur-branded kid he came across last week at Starbucks.

Got your attention?

From Russ Abbott, owner of Ink & Dagger Tattoo (a couple doors down from Wahoo! on College)

Decatur – Come show your true colors this Friday, the Fourth of July, by getting a tattoo and helping to raise money for the families of overseas-troops. Ink & Dagger Tattoo Parlour will host Tribute to Tradition – a charity drive with all proceeds going to Operation Home Front – an organization which works to help the families of the National Guard and Reservists.

The shop will open its doors at 11 AM Friday and hopes to complete more than 30 tattoos by day’s end. To help achieve this monumental task, Russ Abbott – owner and resident artist – has enlisted the help of Christian Ratchford, a regular guest-artist here at Ink & Dagger Tattoo Parlour, who will work alongside Abbott, Jason Kelly, and Michael “Shack” Shackelford. “We thought: what better way to celebrate our Nation’s independence than to honor and support those who help to preserve it!?” – says Abbott. The shop, which specializes in Americana-style tattoos, hopes people will embrace this opportunity to help raise money for the families of soldiers and go home with a piece of American history and tradition.

Attendees will be able to choose from a variety of preselected iconic images and designs, including but not limited to anchors, skulls, flags, and tall-ships. Abbott adds: “Since the Civil War, soldiers have used tattoos as a way to celebrate heroic feats in battle or to commemorate their fallen brothers. Now it’s our turn to pay tribute to the legends of yesterday and heroes of today by carrying on this timeless tradition and indelible part of American History.”

More information and artist portfolios can be seen on the shop’s website: www.inkanddaggertattoo.com.

[photo ripped from Ink and Dagger’s blog]