GOING YARD Friends renovate campus into fun-for-family venture

Felicia Frazar The Seguin Gazette

The facility that once served up eduction to children is now dishing out fun for the whole family.

The new owners of the former Lizzie Burges campus have renovated the facility to create The Backyard.

Freddie and Denise Leos and Molly and Julian Rojas brought to life the idea of offering a unique outing experience by combining shopping, dining, music and more.

“We love Seguin and we love being able to bring these new ventures here,” Denise said. “Other towns have things that I think the community wants here, and we’re just trying to bring them together in one location.”

The quartet of family members and business partners of The Backyard, located at 225 N. Saunders St., renovated the old classrooms and turned them into storefronts.

Each business offers a different service including retail shopping, food trucks, snack foods, adult beverages, indoor batting cages, tattoos, CBD, disc golf, and more.

“We have a little bit of everything for the whole family,” Denise said. “We even have a game room, like an arcade, for the kids to enjoy.”

The lawn is decorated with dozens of picnic tables, coverings to block the sun, lights that create a nice evening ambiance, misters to keep visitors cool during the high temperature days, and large games like Jenga and Connect 4.

Currently, a pair of food trucks offer dinning options and the group is looking to bring in more, Molly said.

“We are hoping to get several trucks out here and this can be a gathering spot after the games,” she said. “I just want people to come out here and enjoy it. Fall is [here}, it will be good weather.”

The former campus holds a lot of memories for Seguin community members, including Julian, who attended the school.

“A lot of people came here, they can come out to reminisce,” Molly said.

Freddie and Julian continue to work on the outdoor venue, hoping to reach new visitors. The latest project has them working on a stage for live music. Recently, they brought out an inflatable screen to watch football.

“We’ve started a farmers market once a month,” Denise said.

For more information on The Backyard, visit its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thebackyardseguin .

Felicia Frazar is the managing editor of the Seguin Gazette. You can e-mail her at felicia.frazar@seguingazette.com

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