BARNESVILLE — Shady Lane Event Center aims to be a community hub for the village of Barnesville.

Husband and wife Trent and Brooke Brownfield purchased the former Barnesville First Baptist Church in December and quickly got to work. Trent said that immediately after taking over ownership of the building, the family started renovations to update the former church to accommodate their vision for an event center.

He added that what he believes sets Shady Lane Event Center apart from the rest in the area is that it will offer an all-inclusive style approach to events.

“We’re going to try to do more of an all-inclusive style, so we have the DJ booth and our sound system. So we’re going to offer a DJ package, a bartender package and a catering package. We’re not going to do the catering, but we have a catering room for them,” he said. “Plus we have the bridal suites downstairs. We have a guy’s bridal suite, a makeup room with salon chairs and a place to get ready in there as well as their own bridesmaid suite.”

He added that he plans to soon build an outdoor wedding area so he can offer not only a wedding reception venue but a one stop shop for wedding events.

Trent said that a big inspiration for him to open the venue was that he kept seeing residents of Barnesville host events outside of the village in areas like St. Clairsville and Wheeling, and he wanted to offer a facility to provide the opportunity for Barnesville residents to keep their events within the community.

“The big thing for Barnesville’s chamber (of commerce) is eat, shop and support local, so we’re just trying to support local businesses and keep everything local,” he said.

Although this is the Brownfield’s first time owning an event center, he has been in the event industry for years. The family has owned and operated Creepin’ Motorsports since 2014.

The motosports business offers pulling parts, repair work and mechanical services, but four years ago went into the mobile bar and party bus business.

Trent said that owning a mobile bar provided him the luxury of attending countless events at a plethora of event centers around the Ohio Valley, which provided him the opportunity to find out what he likes and doesn’t like to be able to create what he believes to be the perfect event center.

Both Trent and Brooke agreed that they are most excited for the opportunity to grow the business and believe that the opening of the event center feels like a full circle moment due to all of the years spent working at different events.

Another unique aspect to Shady Lane Event Center is the fact that it technically is two event centers under one roof. The main ballroom, which is upstairs, is set up for wedding receptions, proms and other larger events, while the basement offers a smaller area with a full commercial kitchen for family reunions, birthday parties, baby showers, retirement parties, Scout meetings, and any other event that may work better in a smaller area.

Brooke said that although their official open house event is April 19, they have booked a few smaller events as a soft opening of sorts.

Trent said on April 19 the couple plans to have various local vendors set up as well as refreshments and hopes that the event serves as a networking event for vendors and attendees alike.

Shady Lane Event Center is located at 94 Shady Lane, and Trent said the best way to contact the event center to book your next event is on Facebook at Shady Lane Event Center LLC, email him at Jtbrownfield@yahoo.com or call him at 740-238-1475.