Labor Day Weekend in Selma was once known for an annual race down the Alabama River.

Hundreds of people would float down the river in inflatable tubes and homemade rafts in hopes of winning the annual river raft race that drew spectators from around the state.

Memories of the race are distant, but members of the Blackbelt Benefit Group and Grow Selma are working to revive the Selma tradition in time for Labor Day.

“It was definitely a big deal in the 70s and 80s, and it used to be run by the Jaycees,” said Victor Shaw, who is spearheading bringing the tradition back to Selma. “It used to have like 400 entries.“

Shaw said he got the idea to bring the race back after he saw pictures posted on Facebook a few months ago.

“Somebody posted something about two or three months ago that I thought was current, but they were just posting some pictures and articles from the 80s,” Shaw said. “I thought this is great. I want to do this.”

To Shaw’s dismay, the pictures were of days gone by, and the tradition of the race died sometime in the early 1980s.

“The good old days for my kids are today. I cannot listen to people tell me about the good old days anymore,” Shaw said. “I need to be making memories for the younger people.”

After getting nowhere on the original Facebook post, Shaw decided to discuss bringing the race back at a meeting at the Selma & Dallas County Chamber of Commerce.

“Everybody showed a lot of support for it, but there was a lot of terror that in this day in age you’re going to get sued, it is going to cost too much and the argument that nobody knows how to build a raft anymore,” Shaw said.

But Shaw didn’t let that stop him from trying to bring the race back to life.

“There are a lot of other races within 300 miles that used to be done back in the 70s and 80s that are starting to pop up again over the last few years,” Shaw said. “Everybody else that is doing this is having quite a bit of success, so we’re going to try and make this happen.”

Shaw started gaining support from people on a Facebook page he made for the event and from his fellow members in the Blackbelt Benefit Group and Grow Selma.

“I talked to Mayor [George] Evans’ office, I talked to the chief of police, and I’ve talked to the people at the Alabama Marine Police, who oversee this area, who have to issue us a permit to put on a water event,” Shaw said.

Shaw said he recently submitted an application requesting a permit to hold the race from the Alabama Marine Police, but he is still waiting for approval.

“When I submitted it I got a comment back from them that our application looked very good,” Shaw said.

“I think if they don’t give us the green light, then they will give us the green light in a slightly altered format.”

The race used to stretch around seven miles from the Edmund Pettus Bridge to Little Miami, but this one won’t be quite as long. Shaw said he expects this year’s race, which is still pending approval, to be around two miles long.

“We don’t want people showing up with an inflatable kiddie pool and a couple of sticks thinking they made a raft. We want them to build something,” Shaw said. “That is what most people want to see.”

The race will have two categories, according to Shaw. One group will be for factory built boats like kayaks, canoes and inflatable rafts, and the other one will be for homemade boats.

While Shaw is still waiting on approval for the event, he has already posted rules on the race’s Facebook Page, Alabama River Raft Race.

While the details are still being worked out, Shaw expects the race to be held on Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 7. The race would be held before the Riverfront Park Music and Arts Festival, which starts at 12 p.m.