T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Love’s Travel Stop General Manager Flo Stewart cuts a ribbon marking the official opening of Love’s Travel Stop in Morristown with Love’s staff members, Belmont County Commissioners, and St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce board members. From left to right: Belmont County Commissioner Vince Gianangeli, St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce board members Pam Mckim, and Dana Rosco, Love’s Travel Stop District Manager Missy Wukelich, Love’s Travel Stop General Manager Flo Stewart, St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce board members Scott Wilson, and Peggy Riccadonna, Belmont County Commissioners J.P. Dutton, and Jerry Echemann.

MORRISTOWN — The St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting Thursday for the newest addition to the area.

Love’s Travel Stop in Morristown opened last weekend but was able to officially celebrate with the chamber Thursday morning.

In addition to the celebration, Love’s donated $2,500 to both Union Local Schools and the Belmont Volunteer Fire Department to further show its desire to be part of the community.

Love’s Travel Stop District Manager Missy Wukelich said that she has been wanting to open a location in the Belmont County area for a while and is excited to finally be able to complete her mission.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Wukelich said. “I’m extremely excited to be here. I’ve been talking about opening a facility in this area for a long time, even though I’m the district manager over numerous stores in Ohio, I’m relatively local. I live in Caldwell, Ohio, so I’m very familiar with this area. It feels like my personal hometown.

“I know a lot of people here and have actually worked in this area before,” she continued, “so we’re just extremely excited to be back home.”

Wukelich added that, in addition to being able to provide a huge increase to the tax dollars received by the county, she is also looking for Love’s being able to help customers get the best bang for their buck.

“Everyone knows that we will lower the market on fuel at this exit, and it’s our goal to always have a great value at a competitive price,” Wukelich said.

Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton said that it’s obvious that the new Travel Stop is a major investment into Belmont County and believes that in the short time that it has been open has already had a dramatic impact of individuals traveling on Interstate 70 to stop in Belmont County to fuel up or grab something to eat.

“I think it’s going to generate more economic activity from those that are traversing through Belmont County, and we’ll continue to hope for future development out here as it pertains to the other assets that are here, like Barkcamp State Park, as well as the addition and improvements to the Underground Railroad Museum. There’s just a lot going on right in this general location,” Dutton said.

St. Clairsville Executive Director Wendy Anderson echoed Dutton’s remarks by saying that she believes that the addition of Love’s Travel Stop was the shot in the arm that the west end of Belmont County needed.

She added that she believes Love’s will bring in more money to the county as well as give people traveling on Interstate 70 more of a variety to spend their money in Belmont County.

Love’s Travel Stop General Manager Flo Stewart said that the new location has already brought in more than 100 jobs to the area and she is optimistic for the location to provide even more in the future.

“I look forward to more jobs that we know will come open the busier than we are. I think just bringing tourism in here, because so many travelers do travel with Love’s, and just having that tourist destination to come through here as they travel back and forth across state lines,” Stewart said. “We’re just excited to be here and excited to be part of the community.”