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FOCUS ON FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES

Bursting business: Couple bring experience to paintball parkBY DAVID PAGE

THE JOURNAL RECORD

GUTHRIE – Before they got marriedalmost two years ago, Dustin and LeslieFretwell Hester talked about opening abusiness together.

In October, they opened Battle Park,a 20-acre paintball park at 14805 W.Industrial Rd. west of the Guthrie citylimits.

“We were talking about this beforewe got married,” Leslie said. “Dustinhad been working on the business plan.He had a business plan written a longtime ago.”

After graduating from the Universityof Oklahoma, Dustin worked in corpo-rate accounting and financial analysisfor 13 years.

“I always wanted to start my ownbusiness,” he said.

Leslie graduated from Sweet BriarCollege and worked in the family busi-ness, which included the SycamoreSquare apartments in downtown Okla -homa City.

“This is something Dustin had in theback of his mind for a long time,” Lesliesaid. “I worked with my family’s busi-ness for six or seven years. We sold ourlast property and it was the right time topull the trigger.”

Dustin and Leslie searched for theright location for more than a year.

“Most paintball fields lease theirland,” Dustin said. “We wanted to buythe land so we could improve it as muchas we wanted.”

They wanted a location north ofOklahoma City and near a highway.

The site they found for Battle Parkis a mile-and-a-half west of StateHighway 74, or N. Portland Avenue, inLogan County.

“I do not think we could have founda better location,” Leslie said. “With mybackground in real estate, I was in favorof buying land, and buying land that hada lot of growth potential.”

A lot of the customers have comefrom nearby towns including Guthrie,Edmond and Cashion. Battle Park isabout 10 miles from Deer Creek HighSchool.

Some customers do not live in thearea. On one January weekend, cus-tomers included groups from Tuttle andNoble, Dustin said.

“I thanked them for making thedrive,” he said.

Battle Park has three outdoor play-ing fields and a 1,500-square-foot club-house that includes an indoor party area

and a climate-controlled lounge. Thereis a patio with 500 square feet and acourtyard with picnic tables.

“We have a lot of picnic tables in theshade,” Dustin said. “We can seat 30 or40 people inside, another 30 or 40 on thepatio and another 100 in the courtyard.So we can accommodate large groups.”

“Some groups want to rent thewhole thing for the day,” he said.

The clubhouse was a major part ofDustin Hester’s business plan. He start-ed playing paintball in 1998 while hewas a student at OU.

“I fell in love with paintball my firstvisit,” he said.

He played at different locations.“You went to a paintball field and it

looked like they were just doing it out oftheir backyards,” Dustin said. “I saw alot of their business was moms bringingtheir kids for birthday parties.”

So his strategy for Battle Parkincluded the clubhouse.

“We wanted an environment whereyou can have fun playing paintball, butyou can have your cake or lunch in aclean environment,” he said.

The clubhouse was designed so par-ents can watch children play from

inside. It has a high-definition televi-sion, free Wi-Fi and a concession area.

“Another problem is that the parentswatching the games would have to beoutside or they would sit in the car withthe air conditioner or heater running,”he said. “We made sure the clubhousehad plenty of windows.”

Battle Park has three themed out-door playing fields, with plans to buildadditional fields.

“My husband, father-in-law andbrother-in-law built the fields,” Lesliesaid. “It is a whole-family operation.My husband designed all the architec-tural plans.”

An Automobile Alley field includes aservice garage and sales office, cars andtires. A cemetery-themed field hasgravestones, statuary and a mausoleum.A field designed as a town includes 16storefronts around a town square.

“I wanted to design fields that werefun and exciting for everyone, from sea-soned veterans to first-time players,”Dustin said.

Themed games can be set up forgroups or for walk-ins.

“We have people who just show upand want to play,” Dustin said. “We will

put them with other people who wantto play to make a group.”

Player safety is stressed.“We start everybody with a safety

briefing about how to use the equip-ment and safety measures to be sureeveryone is playing safely,” Dustin said.“Our referee is there to help organizethe game, but their main job is to be sureeveryone is playing safe.”

Equipment, including goggles, iscertified by ASTM, formerly known asthe American Society for Testing andMaterials. Different equipment is avail-able for different age groups.

“If you are in the 5- to 9-year-oldrange we have equipment that shootsthe ball a lot slower,” Dustin said.

Battle Park is open from 8 a.m. to5 p.m. Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.Sundays and during the week byappointment.

“I still cannot believe how much funit has been to work with my husband,”Leslie said. “It has been a new experi-ence for both of us. It is his dream. Iwould not have come up with a paintball business on my own. We do nothave kids yet, so the business is sort oflike our child.”

Dustin and Leslie Fretwell Hester of Battle Park, a 20-acre paintball park at 14805 W. Industrial Rd. west of the Guthrie city limits. PHOTO BY BRENT FUCHS

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015 journalrecord.com Vol. 120, No. 23 • Two Sections

Couple pair wine,art with business

BY DAN NIELSENTRAVERSE CITY RECORD-EAGLE

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) – Mixpaint, wine, social time. Stir with someinstruction. End up a couple of hourslater with something to hang on yourwall, and perhaps a new friend.

David and Nicole Leslie just openeda Painting With a Twist franchise inTraverse City. The business offersartist-led sessions during which cus-tomers paint a copy of a picture, imbibeif they like and have a bit of social timewith others in the class.

“We went to Colorado Springs andwent to (a session). We had a blast,”David Leslie said.

They researched Painting With aTwist and discovered the 8-year-oldcompany has nearly 200 franchises in28 states.

The concept revolves around theopportunity for anyone, even thosewith no painting experience, to createa painting from a blank canvas goodenough to display at home.

The Leslies hired four localpainters to lead various sessions.

Preparation for opening the newbusiness was hectic, David Leslie said.

“I was sweating. I was losingsleep,” he said. “Then sign-ups startedrolling in. They’re easing my worries.Everything has fallen into place.”

Participants sign up on the fran-

chise’s website, www.PaintingWithaTwist.com/traverse-city. There, theychoose from a selection of images inthe company’s repertoire. That choicedetermines the session date. Sessionscurrently are held on Tuesday, Thurs -day, Friday and Saturday evenings from7 to 9 p.m. Another session is offeredon Saturdays from 3 to 5 p.m. TheLeslies also offer private parties in aseparate room for groups from 10 to 35.

Each participant is provided with acanvas, brushes and paints. Partici -pants may bring their own wine orbeverage to sip during the experience.

This is not a paint-by-numberendeavor. Each participant will paintfrom scratch. Most sessions begin witha completely blank canvas. Sessionsfeaturing more complicated imagesmay be provided with rough guide out-lines on the canvas, David Leslie said.

David Leslie also works as a med-ical device representative. He said hismain focus right now is on PaintingWith a Twist.

“It’s a social gathering where youcan meet people,” he said.

Lisa Schulte, of Traverse City, isone of the artists who will lead ses-sions. She said she loves to paint andoccasionally sells her artwork. Thecanvases participants create will lookgood in their creators’ homes, she said.

“You’ll come out of here withsomething to be proud of,” she said.

FAMILY BUSINESSES

LisaSchulte

works onone of herpaintings

in TraverseCity, Mich.

AP PHOTO/THE RECORD-

EAGLE, DANNIELSEN