Hampton Roads Tattoo Expo

A 14-year-strong Virginia coast convention drawing world-class tattooers to the Hampton Roads Convention Center each March.

Event details

• Next edition: March 2027 (TBA)
• Venue: Hampton Roads Convention Center
• Location: Hampton, VA
• Organizer: N/A
• Founded: 2013
• Frequency: Annual
• Attendance: N/A
• Artists / booths: N/A
• Tickets: Door only: $30/day or $50 for the weekend; $5 off weekend for military/first responders; kids 12 and under free with paid adult.
• Tattoo competitions: yes, judged categories run across the weekend
• Website: https://thehrcc.com/event/hampton-roads-tattoo-expo/2026-03-06/
• Instagram: @tattooconventions

About

The Hampton Roads Tattoo Expo is held each March at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Virginia, and marked its 14th anniversary edition in 2026. The weekend features live tattooing by artists from across the country, professional piercing, vendors, tattoo contests, live music, and entertainment, with door-only ticketing and free entry for kids 12 and under.

For working artists, the Hampton Roads region is a dense, military-heavy coastal Virginia market, and the expo's discount for service members and first responders speaks directly to that base. With well over a decade of history, the show has an established regional draw, and its early-March slot makes it a strong season-opener on the Mid-Atlantic convention calendar.

What to expect

• 14th anniversary edition with a long regional track record
• Held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, VA
• World-class artists plus professional piercing on the floor
• Tattoo contests, live music, and entertainment
• Military and first-responder ticket discounts
• Early-March timing as a Mid-Atlantic season opener

Best for

Artists targeting the military-heavy coastal Virginia market

For artists: booths, applications, hours

The 15th annual Hampton Roads Tattoo Expo is set for March 2027 at the Hampton Roads Convention Center, 1610 Coliseum Dr, Hampton, VA. Only the month has been published: no dates, no booth prices, no artist call. The 14th edition ran March 6-8, 2026, and earlier editions mostly fell in early March.

Booth booking happens off the site. The organizer's site carries no application, registration or booth page; the Hampton event page offers only a name-and-email contact form.

Virginia requires a state license to tattoo. Under the rules effective January 5, 2026, an out-of-state artist works a convention on a guest tattooer license: valid 14 days, up to five per calendar year, with proof of out-of-state residency and documentation of board-approved education in bloodborne disease, sterilization and aseptic technique plus first aid. The individual tattooer application fee is $120, nonrefundable.

At the March 2026 edition the floor ran noon to 11pm Friday and Saturday and noon to 8pm Sunday, 26 hours; clients had to be 18 or older with ID; the attending list carried 145 artist handles; contest entry cost $10, with Tattoo of the Day and Best of Show included at no charge, and entries were due one hour before judging. In 2026 the venue listed nearly 4,000 street-level parking spaces next to the entrances at no charge.

Notable: The expo offers $5 off weekend passes for military and first responders, reflecting its heavy service-member audience.

How we check this listing

We last confirmed these details on 2026-07-06. Dates and prices are taken from the organizer and change between editions, so treat the organizer's own page as final before you book travel or a booth.

Checked against: https://thehrcc.com/event/hampton-roads-tattoo-expo/2026-03-06/, https://visithampton.com/event/hampton-roads-tattoo-expo/2026-03-07/, https://www.worldtattooevents.com/hampton-roads-tattoo-arts-festival-2026/