BRILLIANT — It’s a weekend for former Brilliant High School Blue Devils to celebrate.

The school, which was open from 1895 until 1972, will hold its annual homecoming celebration, beginning this evening and it will stretch throughout Saturday’s dinner at the Mingo K of C.

“We’ve invited alumni, hall of fame members and we’re combining with the first responders in the area for the celebration,” event organizer Kevin Barr said. ”

This will mark the first time, however, in the last several years that the school is not inducting a hall of fame class as part of the festivities.

According to Barr, finding information on possible candidates into the 1930s and 1940s was simply becoming too challenging.

“We didn’t want to water the hall of fame down,” Barr said. “Never say never, but I really feel like we’ve done the best job possible with the amount of information, stats and honors.”

The events planned for the Brilliant Homecoming will serve as a way to honor past hall of famers and dignitaries throughout the school.

Barr said the Friday night sock hop, which is held in the gymnasium at the former Brilliant High School, is one of the highlights of the weekend.

“That really brings back a lot of chatter and memories,” Barr said. “It’s just such a nice time to get everyone back together and talking old times.”

The events begin today with the touring of the former high school as well as the viewing of the Brilliant Museum, which is located in the band room.

There will be a fish fry and meet and greet at the Brilliant American Legion fro, 4-7 p.m.

Additional tours of the schools and museum will be held on Friday before the Brilliant Mixer is held from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Wells Township Park.

The sock hop will be held from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

On Saturday, the highlight of the day is a parade, which will begin at 10 a.m. on North Market Street and make its way down to the former high school.

The parade will include first responders from the Brilliant area.

“We’ve gotten pretty good feedback,” Barr said. “It’s not like last year’s numbers when we did (induct) the last actual class.”

While there are no plans — at this point — to induct another hall of fame class, Barr said plans for the 2023 homecoming weekend are already well under way.

“Next year is the 200th year celebration of Wells Township and also the 100th year of Brilliant Fire Department,” Barr said. “We’re planning many of the same activities and inviting Buckeye North (High School) to join us. But, each activity will be by each organization and stand alone. It’ll be a community-day type venue.”