Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph Boyd.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Nackte has been a labor of love from the beginning. I bought the land in late 2021. Me and my husband’s first date was working 12 hours in the hot sun clearing land and cutting a road up on to the property. He kept coming out for the next year and a half helping me dig ditches, cut down trees, build the first building. Eventually we got power, water, and septic on the property making the days orders of magnitude easier in terms of creature comforts. Eventually I realized anyone who was putting in that much work, it really must be love, so I put a ring on it and married him.
Shortly after purchasing the property we installed the bee hives.
I grew up working with honeybees at my cousins honeybee farm in Ohio. After one of my cousin’s passed away who was like a big brother to me, I put 2 beehives in my home here in San Antonio.
I moved those hives to the property and they became the first two.
The property was originally envisioned to provide an outdoor safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community, to be a park, an event venue, a place to sleep under the stars, or just enjoy nature.
Finally in April 2023 friends of mine convinced me that we were far enough along to open. April 1, 2023 was our official opening date.
I had never run a business before and was quickly overwhelmed. Roughly 6 months after opening I met Corey Dodd. Corey‘s family had operated businesses in South Texas for years and he had helped run a Campground before. He knew how to turn my very small operation into a successful and profitable business. He’s been at the helm as a part owner and the director of operations ever since.
Since opening, we have very quickly grown into the business we are today.
Our first year was one of stops and starts, installing infrastructure, testing it out, changing plans, stepping back and reevaluating. Our second year was us finally hitting our stride. In our second year approximately 6000 people visited Nackte, we won several awards for the pride parade, and started developing our rhythm. Our third year has been one of explosive growth, designs for the park that originally seemed ambitious now appear to be insufficient.
It’s exhausting but in the best possible way. It’s also a lot to be proud of.
When we first started out we ran into naysayers of every sort. Sometimes it felt like every new person we met explained to us why Nackte was a terrible idea and would never work.
One such criticism we heard all too often was that the aggressive centering of our values might alienate potential more conservative customers. I and the other owners of Nackte are very vocal about our commitment and dedication to serve the whole of the LGBTQIA+ family. We unconditionally support our trans, queer, and non-conforming brothers and sisters. We unconditionally support our BIPOC brothers and sisters. We are proud of these values, and after 2 years, we are proud to be proving the naysayers is wrong.
We are also proud to be one of only two LGBTQIA plus businesses of its kind serving the entire state of Texas.
Nackte is the only business of its kind serving Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and the entire Rio Grande Valley. You can fit five US states inside our service area.
The folks who visit Nackte come from Austin and San Antonio of course but also Victoria, McAllen, Laredo, towns so small they don’t even have stoplights. We’ve also had customers from Germany, Australia, Canada, China, Laos, the Philippines and Spain. Looking at the social media statistics sometimes breaks my brain.
Being the only business providing this type of service to such a large area is a responsibility we don’t take lightly. More times than I can count we’ve been the very first safe space a newly out person has experienced. From small towns in the Rio Grande Valley to small border towns in Mexico, we’ve met customers who finally worked up the nerve to slowly open the closet door and tiptoe out… and Nackte was the first place they came to. It’s incredibly moving to be that first hug to a nervous and scared young person taking those initial steps.
Because of this we spend considerable resources marketing to folks in small towns in South Texas who might never see people who look like them being centered in popular gay media. We try to do most of our marketing in English and Spanish and have developed marketing pipelines for both.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There’s one thing I want to say about struggles, Nackte has been a community project from the beginning. I don’t even know if I can recall the number of our customers who have volunteered at the park. Customers who have come through in a pinch. Our local customers make Nackte happen and they always have. At this point many of them are our closest friends.
On opening day we were packed, just as the celebration really starts kicking off, the pool filtration system breaks and the pool starts turning sickly green. I was mortified and crushed that the day was probably ruined, but what can you do? Tell jokes, do shots. lol
One of our customers volunteered to make an emergency run to San Antonio to get replacement parts while another took over the DJ booth and yet another started passing out shots. Before we knew it, the party was in full swing, the filtration system was fixed, and everyone was back in the pool.
We’ve definitely run into some less than fun potholes in the road. At one point some local youths were driving up and down the road screaming “F*ggots! Go back to Austin!!!”… which is an odd thing to yell considering that none of us are from Austin. I kind of wanted to yell back “but we’re from San Antonio!!!”. Sometimes you have to dig deeper to find the humor in a situation. There kind of just isn’t any other option. Besides, I’m pretty confident they’ve helped create more than one new position at the company that makes signs for us. I suppose in that way, their hate is making sure some kid gets Christmas presents, so… silver lining?
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an IT guy for a defense contractor in San Antonio, I retired from the military after 22 years. I grew up in Appalachia in brutal poverty, I have 14 brothers and sisters, 11 biological, same mom same dad. I grew up a preacher kid and extremely religious. I like to think that I’m known for being very down to earth, unpretentious, always laughing, fun to be around, and hopefully I’m known for being a good friend. I love meeting new people and hearing their stories.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I come from a very musical family. My mom and two sisters and I had a family quartet. I think my favorite childhood memories are singing quartet and bluesgrass with them. Also spending time at my aunt’s house with my cousins watching them harvest honey.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://campnackte.com
