Yellowknife’s ‘most niche’ meetup will celebrate fireweed tattoos

As northerners know, fireweed is a fuchsia-coloured flower that thrives in burn areas and can be used in jellies, syrups and salads.

It’s inspired plenty of art and is even in the name of a local band: Flora and the Fireweeds.

Here’s a question. How many people in Yellowknife have permanently inked the iconic pink-purple perennial on their bodies?

Two Yellowknifers, Sukham Dhindsa and Keelen Simpson, are organizing a meetup in the city for people with fireweed tattoos.

“We thought it would be fun to use our free will to do something whimsical,” Dhindsa told Cabin Radio. “There is no point to the event, just to see everyone’s fireweed tattoos.”

Simpson said she hopes the meetup will be “full of giggles” with friends and strangers alike showing off their tattoos.

“I’m hoping this event is a fun, random Yellowknife story that people will enjoy participating in and be able to talk about for years to come, and maybe make new friends at,” she said.

Dubbed Fireweed Forever, the “totally pointless tattoo meetup” is set to take place at The Black Knight Pub on Wednesday, September 17 after 5pm.

Organizers encouraged all members of “the most oddly specific club in town” to attend.

“There’s no membership card, no secret handshake, and absolutely no deeper purpose to this event,” the meetup description states.

“We’re just celebrating the fact that we all have one thing in common: at some point we thought, ‘You know what would look great on me forever? This majestic pink northern weed.’

“Let’s make it the most niche social gathering Yellowknife has ever seen.”

Organizers said everyone who attends the meetup will be entered into a raffle for a yet-to-be-revealed “very exciting prize.”

Dhindsa and Simpson said they got matching fireweed tattoos after Yellowknife’s summer Folk on the Rocks music festival in 2022.

“Sometimes what happens at Folk on the Rocks doesn’t stay at Folk on the Rocks,” Simpson said.

“For me, they represent our friendship and connection to the North, as one of the most beautiful flowers that exists here,” Dhindsa said.

“I wanted something to represent my time here and the natural beauty of this place.”

Simpson and Dhindsa are not alone.

Yellowknife artist Jack Miltenberger has been tattooing since they began their apprenticeship in 2019. Miltenberger said they have done around 20 fireweed tattoos of all styles since then, including the matching ones acquired by Simpson and Dhindsa.

“In terms of popular northern tattoos, they have surpassed the northern lights and the raven, which were usually more typical,” Miltenberger said.

“Now fireweeds have definitely become, I would say, one of the preferred northern symbols for tattoos.”

Miltenberger said one reason people give for choosing fireweed is that it’s a beautiful flower, prolific in the North.

They believe the tattoos have also gained popularity and resonance with northerners since the NWT’s historic 2023 wildfire season.

Miltenberger said they are most often asked to ink black-and-white fine-line fireweed tattoos but have also done them in watercolour, abstract and American traditional styles.

“I’ve done a multitude of variations on the fireweed, especially because I don’t like to reuse my designs,” they said.

“I would rather draw everybody a new fireweed each time, so that you don’t end up seeing somebody having the exact same drawing on them.”

Miltenberger said their biggest concern when doing a fireweed tattoo is the placement.

“Putting it somewhere on a long and skinny body part is helpful because it’s a long and skinny plant,” they said.

“With fireweed, it simplifies really nicely if you want to go small but, to really give it that full beauty, I love when I can do a bigger, more detailed fireweed.”

For people considering a fireweed tattoo, Miltenberger is offering to draw non-permanent versions on bodies for the curious to test-drive at the Fireweed Forever meetup.

Miltenberger said at first, they were nervous about the event and being in a room surrounded by their art. But they said they are looking forward to the meetup and think the idea is “absolutely hilarious and fantastic.”

“It’s a great opportunity to see how my tattoos have aged with people. It gives me a chance to learn more about my own process so that I can keep growing and getting better as a tattoo artist,” they said.

“It’s also … very touching, very heartwarming to see people wearing my art and to know that they gave me that trust.”