‘Decal Guy’ does strong business from Williston

WILLISTON, N.D. — Looking for a hard hat decal? How about a drilling rig sticker for your pickup? Mark Hopkins is your guy.

The graphic designer from Bend, Ore., known as the Decal Guy, is set up just outside of Williston’s city limits selling car decals and other graphics from his custom trailer.

Hopkins owns two sign shops, but takes his design shop on the road during the summer months.

He added Williston to his route last year, and he’s finding oilfield workers to be good customers. The amount of business Hopkins does from Williston is similar to what he sees in Las Vegas.

“I could probably sit here all year,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins sells a lot of oilfield-related decals with sayings such as “I love my oil man,” “Don’t tell my parents I’m a roughneck,” “Oilfield trash and proud of it” and many others not fit for a family newspaper.

He has 3,400 decals displayed on his trailer, 3 million in a catalog that customers can look through, plus another catalog with 6 million decals that he doesn’t display or customers would be there all day.

Eric Roepke of Crookston, Minn., who hauls water for the oil industry, stopped by last week to purchase oil-related decals for his pickup. He chose decals with a pump jack.

“It seemed better than the naked lady. That’s an overdone cliché,” Roepke said.

Hard hat decals are among the most popular items in North Dakota, Hopkins said.

But an even bigger portion of what he does from Williston is design advertising for new businesses, such as semi decals, custom shirts and embroidered hats.

“It’s not just selling decals,” Hopkins said. “You’ve got to be good with computers, graphics.”

Amy Dalrymple is a Forum Communications Co. reporter stationed in the Oil Patch.

Tags: oil patch, north dakota, news