St. Clairsville Mayor Kathryn Thalman tells city council about the idea she and Recreation Director Eric Gay have for a potential new event center at the city’s former fairgrounds. T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Due to expected inclement weather, St. Clairsville Parks and Recreation announced the postponement of Thursday’s Memorial Day Weekend Kickoff.

Recreation Director Eric Gay said that due to the forecast calling for thunderstorms, the company that would be performing the drone show decided to not risk damaging its drones.

“They’re calling for thunderstorms all day and a high of 51 degrees. So I talked to the band, the guys that are running the drone show, and everybody was really on the same page. This is going to be such a fun night and a cool night for people to see, so if we were able to move it, we want to give everybody a good show. And with the weather that they’re calling for, we said if it was going to be 80 with a chance of rain we could still do it, but they’re calling for a high of 50, rain all day, and we just didn’t want to take the chance,” Gay said. “And to be honest with you, the guys that are taking the drones up in the air, they’re professionals and they were like, ‘We’re not taking them up in the air,’ so we’re making this call to move it to (May) 29.”

He added that although the date has changed, none of the scheduled events will be left out.

“So luckily, the band Jukebox will still be here to perform on the 29th. They were here about four years ago, and they are one of my all time favorites,” Gay said. “So they’ll be here, all the food trucks will be here still, Hightower Brewing Company will be here, and then the drone show, of course, so it’ll be a fun evening. So instead of May 22, we moved it to the following Thursday, May 29.”

The free event will still take place from 7-9 p.m. at the Central Park Amphitheater, located at the former Belmont County fairgrounds.

Furthermore, the Parks and Recreation Department is planning to create more excitement for the city.

Mayor Kathryn Thalman said that she spoke with Gay, and they are in the earliest stages of looking to create a large indoor event center at the city’s Central Park.

She said she will be taking the building proposal to the Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association to see if there are any possible grants the city can receive to fund the project.

“The vision is there, and we want to see us move to the future. And we know that there’s a need for a large venue to have for celebrations, weddings, graduations or whatever. And we’d like to see us have something down there, so we’ll see what kind of grants are out there, but from what I understand, they’re not quite as plentiful as they had been,” Thalman said. “Things kind of have dried up some, but we can always ask. That’s all you can do. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, right?”

Gay added that he believes the building would be a much-needed addition to his department.

“It’s just something that we get a lot of requests for, just for rentals in general. And what’s kind of happening with our gymnasium is it’s a gymnasium like, you know, not everybody wants a gym as their reception hall. And we’re also getting a ton of wear and tear on our floor, with … tables and chairs that we’re picking up, and at the rate that we’re growing we can’t have enough space right now,” Gay said. “We have, obviously, the gymnasium, the new Unified Bank building, the Kevin Barr Event Center building, which are all great but are always filled.”

Thalman said if she is unable to secure any grants for the building, the city could find a corporate sponsor or do fundraising for the project.

“We think it would certainly be useful, and we’ve got such an amazing team. We’ve got Eric, our council members, and I’m a firm believer that if you think you want something bad enough, it’s going to happen,” she said. “And I think between all of these great brains we’ve got in our city, it will happen.”