ROYAL OAK, Mich. - A tattoo studio says about $7,000 worth of equipment was stolen from its tent during the Arts, Beats   Eats festival in downtown Royal Oak over the Labor Day weekend.

Via Grace Studio, one of the vendors in the festival's arts area, reported the equipment missing after the tent was closed Sunday night into Monday morning.

Royal Oak police are investigating.

The studio said the stolen items included tattoo machines, two iPads, stencil printers, inks, needles, ointments and other equipment needed to operate the business.

The theft left the studio unable to provide tattoo services Monday (Sept. 7) and forced it to cancel appointments.

 We had so many people coming back to us today like,  Oh, yeah, we're going to get tattoos,' and I was like,  Come tomorrow,' and now we're not here,  Veronica, Allyson and Kassidy of Via Grace Studio said.  And now we have to cancel all of our appointments. 

Event producer Jon Witz said the festival has a roaming security guard assigned to the art fair area, but there are 132 tents to monitor.

Artists are also instructed to secure their spaces, he said.

Witz said organizers are working with police to determine what happened.

 We're going to try and get to the bottom of it,  Witz said.  I know it's been reported to Royal Oak police. They're trying to find footage off of Oakland Community College to see if we can catch what happened, and we don't feel good about it. 

The artists said they were not advised to lock up their equipment and believed they had secured their tent in the same manner as other vendors.

The theft happened as Arts, Beats   Eats wrapped up its Labor Day weekend run in downtown Royal Oak.

The festival opened late Friday because of weather but recovered over the weekend, with Saturday attendance reportedly reaching a record high.

The festival concluded Monday with a performance by Kool   the Gang.

Via Grace Studio has started a GoFundMe campaign for those who want to help the business replace the stolen equipment.

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