Anyone who attended this past weekend’s Battle of Selma events can testify that the event was very well organized and very well attended.

While the numbers are still being tallied, a cursory comparison of this year’s number of re-enactors to last year’s tells you the event was better attended by those who bring this living history event to life for those who attend.

Unfortunately, several schools had to cancel their attendance due to the storms that rocked the state earlier in the week, but the weekend’s attendance was still good and the vendors at the event reported good business, which is a good sign for next year.

We would like to formally thank James Hammonds and the April 1865 Society for their hard work in bringing the events to life this weekend. Selma’s director of tourism, Candace Johnson, also did an excellent job in helping prepare for the event, organizing volunteers and working with the city of Selma, Dallas County officials and those outside our city and county to get the word out about the event.

We are so blessed in this community to have historical significance on many different levels, which can be developed to draw tourists, and their dollars, to our community.

We applaud those who fought to keep the Battle of Selma re-enactment alive and who brought it back from extinction some years ago to what we saw last weekend.

We can’t wait to see the event expand even more next year.