ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The former Ruritan Building next to Red Devil Stadium on the St. Clairsville High School campus is getting a new name.

The building will now be called the Kevin Barr Event Center.

Barr was the original recreation director for the city of St. Clairsville and was the driving force of the department.

“If it wasn’t for Kevin, I don’t know if there would be a Recreations Department,” St. Clairsville Recreation Director Eric Gay said. “He was responsible for the current building we’re in, the junior baseball and softball fields, and the amphitheater.”

Gay said he came up with the idea because he would look around at all of the accomplishments Barr achieved for the community but noticed he didn’t have his name attached to any of them. Gay recalled reaching out to Barr.

“I said, ‘Kevin, you deserve more recognition than anyone for the amount of stuff that you did for the Rec Department,'” Gay said. “We decided that it will be the Kevin Barr Event Center just so his name is around here and so when people ask, ‘Who’s Kevin Barr?’ we’ll be able to tell them the story of everything that he did.”

Gay jokingly said he called Barr and told him the dedication isn’t a memorial building because he’s still alive, but he felt that Barr’s name needs to be forever connected to the department.

“I told him, ‘I want your name to be connected to the Rec Department because everything else already has a name.’ The JB Martin Recreation Center, we have Gulfport Energy Basketball Court going in, and the Unified Bank Junior Sports Complex. I just thought that this was a great building to have his name attached to because all of the dinners and soup days that the Ruritan did he would always make sure that his staff was there to support them,” Gay said.

The city of St. Clairsville recently purchased the Ruritan Building for $25,000.

The building will be run by the St. Clairsville Recreation Department to accommodate the overflow of bookings at the recreation center.

Gay said the building will be used for various party rentals and can accommodate up to 80 people. Although the city purchased the building from the Ruritan Club in July, it will still be the home of the club’s monthly meetings, soup days, chicken dinners and any other event it regularly would have.

“I was very adamant when these initial talks started that I didn’t want them to think that they weren’t going to have a home. They do a phenomenal job and are such wonderful people who do so much for the community. So we wanted to make sure that they know that this will still be a home for them as well,” Gay said.

After purchasing the building, the Recreation Department went to work to renovate the structure by painting the inside and outside, replacing the windows, removing the catering bar, and adding new ceiling fans. The department is planning to replace the flooring and install an air conditioner, which Gay said is a much-needed addition in the summer months. The department did all of the renovation work in house in the span of three weeks to make sure that it would be ready for its first rental under new ownership this past Saturday.

“I want to give a shoutout to a few guys. Randy Mellott has done so much to help here. Donnie Hines and Mike Casper helped us out a ton with a lot of things to flip this building around and just under a three-week time, and those guys are a huge reason for that,” Gay said.

The Kevin Barr Event Center is now available for booking by contacting Gay at the J.B. Martin Recreation Center by calling 740-695-6327.