New Business Draws a Crowd at CavernFest

By Misty Cryer

People came from near and far to enjoy CavernFest, Carlsbad MainStreet’s annual signature event, held in downtown Carlsbad this year on June 13-14. Along with a lineup of live bands, vendors, non-profit and community organizations, food trucks, tournaments, and various attractions, a new party entertainment service, Nerf N’ Fun, provided Nerf battle experiences for all ages.

Clay Phillips and Sara Whitzel opened Nerf N’ Fun in May of this year. Sara said Clay’s two younger boys come to visit them from Texas, and they love Nerf guns. “They have about 30 guns of their own and about 300 bullets,” she said.

“We have Nerf gun wars with them at our home pretty frequently, and so we decided to just blow up the idea on a bigger scale and create a family-fun business out of it,” said Sara. “That’s how the idea was really born, just playing with our boys and having fun at home with it.”

At Easter, Sara said they held their first “event” with family. “We had a big Easter family nerf war, and of course, it was children, it was adults, and everyone just had a blast.” She said this first run-through helped them identify things to incorporate into the business.

“We have done graduation parties. We’ve done birthday parties. We actually did Class Act for the seniors. We have done company parties. We actually have done an adult birthday party for just adults,” said Sara. “The truth be told, I think adults actually have more fun.

“Honestly, it’s great exercise; it’s really for anyone at any fitness level. It’s a way that we also thought of to get people out and moving and off their devices and in front of the TV. Clay and myself are very healthy, and health conscious ourselves,” said Sara. “We definitely wanted a way to keep our boys moving and keep them active.”

Clay and Sara act as referees on the battlefield, Sara said. “It’s not just going out and shooting people. We do have several different games that we call game modes,” she said.

“If it’s a birthday party, we do things at no additional cost for the birthday person; we have bigger guns that are more involved to make them feel special since it is their special day. We do have birthday banners that are Nerf-themed,” said Sara. “We like to do extra things for that special person on their special day.

“We can accommodate anything, such as the adult birthday party we did. They wanted to make it more adult-oriented, so it was like you get shot, you have to take a shot of alcohol. We try to do whatever the people that are booking us would like to do,” said Sara.

“We actually did a church youth group after CavernFest—that evening. We do have a younger battlefield that we set up, so I’m talking like five and under, and of course you can’t really play too many structured games with that age because they just don’t understand. They are able to just go out and kind of shoot each other and have fun,” said Sara.

“It’s on a much smaller scale, so it’s much smaller inflatable bunkers and things like that, so we were able to set a small one up for the five and under,” she said.

“I was born and raised in Carlsbad. I haven’t always lived here but eventually ended up here because all my family is from here. I’ve been back in Carlsbad full time since about 2003,” said Sara. Clay, she said, moved to Carlsbad in 2022.

She said the business is something they can do in their spare time. She is a Contract Specialist for the government and works at WIPP, and Clay is a Federal Security Officer for Homeland Security. “That’s how we met because he works at the building here in town for the WIPP personnel, so essentially, we both do work for WIPP,” she said.

Sara said CavernFest was very busy. “We are very thankful because it was a lot of good advertising for us being a new business. Since CavernFest, we have actually had a lot of calls for bookings,” she said, adding that they got a call about partnering with someone with a facility.

Sara said their favorite part about participating in CavernFest was community interaction. “It was great seeing a lot of familiar faces that I’m used to because, like I said, I am born and raised in Carlsbad but also all the faces that are new to our community,” she said.

“I think us having this new and different business is good for people that are coming to Carlsbad because I think Carlsbad gets a bad rap for not having a lot to do. If you’re from here, you know about the secret hidden gems and places to go, especially during the summer, such as Sitting Bull Falls,” said Sara. “For us, it was about letting people in the community know whether you’re new or not, there are things that you can do as a family or for your kids, and you don’t just have to sit at home and be bored.

“It honestly has blown up even bigger than we thought it would, and so we’re very happy with that. We just keep learning as we go. We have plans to add even more to the business and to make it even bigger and better than what we have now as time progresses,” said Sara.

Nerf N’ Fun has a Facebook page and a website (https://www.nerfnfun.com ). For more information about Nerf N’ Fun, call 575-361-2702 or 575-302-2832.

CavernFest attractions are free to the public due to community partners and event sponsors. Details of this event are published at https://www.cavernfest.com.