The Animal Shelter Society partnered with Downtown Tattoo for an event so successful that the shelter’s director might have to get a tattoo.

Before the shelter’s fundraiser with the tattoo shop on Saturday, Russ Denny, the Assistant Director of the Animal Shelter Society Inc., was challenged to get his first ever tattoo.

“I thought it was relaxing sitting there doing it,” Denny said as a reaction to getting a paw print tattoo on his upper-left arm.

Jody Murray, the Director of the Animal Shelter, agreed on the morning of Downtown Tattoo’s fundraiser for the shelter that he would get a tattoo if the fundraiser brought in $7,000.

Approximately 90 customers participated in the event to raise a total of $6,570.

“It was a huge success,” Murray said. “It more than met our expectations. Downtown Tattoo, Travis (Downtown Tattoo Owner) and his staff did a wonderful job.”

While very successful, the fundraiser came up about $430 under budget for Murray’s ink addition, but Denny is making it his mission to raise the extra funds to meet the goal.

Murray said the Animal Shelter Society has a board meeting this coming Monday, Oct. 8, so if the donations don’t roll in by then he has a good feeling the board will be feeling generous. He is prepared though, Murray said it’s inevitable that he’ll have to get his first tattoo now so he’s already picked out a few options to reflect his passions.

The four options range from the outline of a mule to a lucky horseshoe to a music note to some memorabilia relating to Elvis or John Wayne, both icons that Murray favors.

The non-profit and Downtown Tattoo coordinators are already talking about doing the event next year and adding some more family-friendly elements like temporary tattoos for children due to the success on Saturday.

“It was a phenomenal day,” Murray said. “That kind of fundraiser for a business to do on their own, unsolicited was fantastic.”

People started lining up at the door at 9 a.m. and there were people still coming into the shop at 8:30 p.m.

Although the event was a large success, Murray said that Travis Kilpatrick, Owner of Downtown Tattoo, speculated that the shop may have lost a few customers due to the Ohio State football game. Regardless, everyone involved was pleased with the results.

“It was a very pleasant surprise, I never thought we would make that much I have to be honest,” Murray said. “Our goal was much more conservative and it probably doubled what I thought it would make to be honest.”