The first of many Bridge Crossing Jubilee events kicked off Thursday night at the historic St. James Hotel with a Jubilee Welcome Reception hosted by Selma Mayor George Evans and the Selma City Council.

“It’s going to probably be one of our best weekends we’ve had in quite some time. We’ll have a lot of very popular and wonderful people visiting us,” Evans said in his opening remarks to a crowd of people filling the ballroom. “We’re looking forward to the activities later on Friday, Saturday and Sunday when we have the final walking of the bridge and Vice President Joe Biden will be here with his wife.”

The reception served as a time to welcome guests to Selma and discuss the busy schedule of events that will take place.

“To all of our out of town guests, especially those who are here for the first time, welcome to our Queen City. We appreciate you coming,” Selma councilwoman Angela Benjamin said. “It is always electric when we have events like this and we have our out of town friends to come back and see us one more time.”

Jubilee chairman Sam Walker, told the crowd this year will be a celebration of 20 years of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, as the first jubilee was in 1993.

The mayor reminded people that as of Sunday morning, Broad Street, Washington Street and Lauderdale will be shut down.

“So if you’re needing to get across the bridge Sunday, you’ll have to use the bypass,” Evans said. “[Remember to] cleanup your surroundings, as we always say when you have company coming. When company comes we try to make a good impression. We’ll just continue to cleanup our surroundings and try and show our best conduct and do the best job and make our company feel welcome.”