“Survivorman” Les Stroud will be among attendees celebrating a local paintball field’s perseverance in the aftermath of a devastating fire earlier this year.
Back Country Paintball will be celebrating the grand reopening of its pro shop on Saturday, Sept. 29, about five months after a blaze completely gutted the original building in early April. Back Country Paintball owner Tony Armstrong said Stroud, an outdoor survival expert who has starred in numerous survival-themed reality television shows, will be on hand during a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled to take place at noon.
“He plays on our field all the time, he’s a diehard paintballer,” said Armstrong. “He started at our field two years ago, him and his son … he said ‘Tony, this has been the best thing for me and my kid, we can do this together and we’re equals on the field.’”
Armstrong said he is still looking to round up more dignitaries for the shop’s grand opening. He said only the floor from the original building could be salvaged.
Though the fire cost Armstrong’s business thousands of dollars in losses, it didn’t stop him from continuing to give back to the community. Just days after the blaze, Armstrong refused to cancel a fundraising game for the Parkinson Society of Canada scheduled for later that month. In May, the field also hosted another fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Muskoka.
The pro shop reopening festivities on Sept. 29 will also feature beef-on-a-bun and a corn roast, and coincides with the facility’s Muskoka Mayhem 3 tournament.