LAFFERTY — After years of planning, Lafferty Moose Lodge 1462 finally has a new home.

Lodge Administrator Marsha Butler said members have been working toward securing a new facility for years.

“This is a project that we’ve worked on for a long time. Everyone wanted a new lodge, because our old Lodge is almost 90 years old, and it needed a lot of updates,” Butler said.

“And John Dubiel accepted the job of putting together a new building.He was the chairman of the committee. He had four guys under him that he brought in. They’re all lodge members, and he had Tim Kyer, Denny Vincenzo, Brad Applegarth and Charlie Rudnick as committeeman for this project, and they put in a lot of hours in.”

She commended Dubiel for his continued dedication in seeing the project through, saying that he was at the construction site nearly every day to ensure everything was moving along smoothly.

Denoble Construction of St. Clairsville broke ground on the new site last summer and completed the project in early December.

“We managed to be able to let our members have our first Christmas party here this year. We weren’t completely set up, but everything was legal. So we got our license and everything, and we were good to go,” she said. “So we kind of opened up on December 18, but it was like a soft opening, and then once we’ve managed to get everything done we can now officially open.”

Butler added that the lodge received a $3,000 grant through Moose International for the signage on the side of the building and at the entrance of the lodge.

She said that thanks to the grant, the lodge only had to spend an additional $53 for both signs combined, which allowed it to spend its funds on other needs and continue full steam ahead on the completion of the new building.

Butler said the funding for the new building comes from a combination of previous gas and oil lease money, membership dues, revenue generated from the slot machines inside of the lodge, and a loan through WesBanco bank, which she said has already been half paid off.

“We had a lot of our members in our lodge step up to help out with things that saved us money all the way around,” she said. “As far as, you know, our fencing in the back, helping out with our concrete out front and building our bar — we built our bar ourselves.

“Pete Gingrich was pretty much the head of that. He built the frame and everything, and then we had some of our members come in and help him with that. It was just a group effort.”

Now that the lodge is open for regular business, Butler said it is looking to do several community events such as its children’s Easter party at 1 p.m. April 12. She said the Easter Bunny will be in attendance, and the fenced in backyard will give the children plenty of space to do an Easter egg hunt.

Butler added that the lodge believes that hosting events open to the public, such as the Easter party, is a good way to be involved in the local community.