BUCKHANNON – The growth and expansion of the Event Center at Brushy Fork has led to two new hires, allowing staff to have more control and coverage for events.
Th event center’s manager Sean Harris said employees Wendy Allman and Christian Castellon were hired as event specialists in mid-September during an interview with My Buckhannon Thursday.
Harris explained the event center has a partnership with the Army National Guard and the Upshur County Convention and Visitors Bureau, noting the National Guard previously provided staff members to assist with events.
“But now, we take care of that ourselves by hiring our own staff,” he said.
Since the National Guard no longer coordinates staff workers for events, Harris said the event center – which operates under the umbrella of the Upshur County Convention and Visitors Bureau – controls the scheduling.
“Before, when we had an event, we had to make sure that the National Guard caretakers were available to work,” he said. “Now, we don’t have to do that. Now, we have our own staff.
Harris said the decision was between himself and the National Guard.
“We thought it would be the best thing for the event center moving forward,” he said. “And they were perfectly happy to do that.”
Prior to the new hires, Harris said he was the one who did the advertising, booking, events and most of the setup with assistance from the National Guard’s staff.
“Now I can turn over some of that stuff to the specialists and have a night off once in a while,” he said.
The duties of the event specialists range from picking up tables and taking out garbage to coordinating events and working closely with clients.
“Everything under the sun that involves events,” Harris added.
Allman, who worked at the event center for two years, said she is enjoying her new role as an event specialist.
“I get to interact with the customers and clients a lot more,” she said.
Harris attributes the increase in event bookings at the Brushy Fork location to the new hires.
“Every year since we started three years [ago] – well I’ve been here three years, the building’s been open four – and every year it’s steadily picked up and this year, it’s booming completely,” he said.
Harris said the event center has been booked almost every weekend since February.
Since the event center now controls scheduling, there are now more available days to host events, Harris said.
He added the event center is closing 2018 strong with a variety of events, including scheduled Christmas parties, an arts and craft fair and more.
“Especially with the holidays, we’re squeezing them in the best we can,” he said, “and then it doesn’t really slow down after that. We pick right back up with the (adult) spelling bee and Create Buckhannon and there’s not really a slow period now.”
