The Ro-Na Theater in Ironton is one of four projects from Lawrence County that will receive funding from the state’s capital budget. (The Ironton Tribune | File photo)

I was there on a rainy Saturday in July 2008 when the Ironton City Council members were in the ruins of the once regal Ro-Na theater.

The roof was letting in more rain than it was keeping out. The water had ruined the murals. 

The building had last been used as a car parts store in the 1990s and useless debris of “damaged metal shelves, old paper records, auto parts, appliances and other items left in the building. Everything is covered in muck from ceiling tiles that collapsed and turned to mud,” I wrote at the time.

The city had bought the building and the councilmen had decided to take care of what they could. That meant then-city legal counsel, now municipal court judge, Kevin Waldo got to run a Bobcat and scoop up the debris and dump it in a dumpster.

It was a mess. It was sad. It was looked fairly hopeless.

But the theater, as council members kept saying, had strong bones with the steel and brick still holding strong, that with some money, the Ro-No could shine again

Personally, I had doubts. 

Not about the will of the city or the community to do the work, but I’ve seen a lot of cities try to save old buildings and for every Paramount Arts Center in Ashland, there is an old rural school that is abandoned and crumbling.

But I was wrong.

Over the past 17 years, the community came together to save the Ro-Na.

There were fundraisers. The roof was repaired. The stage was rebuilt. The marquee shined again. 

Eventually, Bobby Bare played the stage as did many other bands, there were breakfasts with Santa or the Easter Bunny, the stage hosted actors from the Harry Potter films at the annual Wizardfest.

Every year, the Friends of Ironton kept making improvements.

On Friday, the Ro-Na got a big boost with a $2.7 million grant from the first round of Wonderful Waterfronts Initiative that Gov. Mike DeWine announced last May.

The contractor is already at work, prepping to level the sloped floor so attendees won’t make to sit at an awkward angle. The stage will be extended and improved.

Rarely, have I been so happy to be wrong.

It is wonderful to see the Ro-Na become a better, brighter site in downtown Ironton. 

Mark Shaffer is a reporter for The Ironton Tribune. He can be reached at mark.shaffer@irontontribune.com.