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The City of Selma is ready to run after the city completed a more than $1 million restoration of the Ralph “Shug” Jordan Track and Field.

Now, city leaders are hoping Selma can take back its place of prominence in the track and field community in the State of Alabama.

Mayor James Perkins Jr. said the facility had fallen into a state of disrepair that they had to replace the whole track.

“It takes time. And so I want to just acknowledge to everyone who’s been a part of this, thank you for being patient and giving the city of Selma the time and the space to do it the right way,” Perkins said. “It’s important that we discontinue the patching and putting bandages on cancer. We have major issues that we must fix, but they must be done the right way.”

Perkins also took time to recognize Gerald Barron, parks and recreation director, and his crew for getting the track prepared for the ribbon cutting and Catch Me If You Can track meet that was held later on Wednesday. Barron also thanked Dr. Denisha Hendricks, Barron’s predecessor, along with former Selma track coach Houston Young and State Sen. Robert Stewart.

Stewart said he said the stadium is something everyone in the city can be proud of and encouraged residents to spread the good news.

“So I encourage us all as proud Selmians to be ambassadors for our city,” Stewart said. “Let’s find the good. Let’s speak well of Selma in our conversations on social media and wherever we go, let’s amplify positivity because we do have it going on in Selma because we all are Selma strong.”

Perkins said the revitalization of Memorial Stadium doesn’t stop with the track. He said there’s “another $3 million” that needs to be raised to fix the structure of the stadium. Perkins said the bleachers are leaking into the offices and concession stands below the stadium. That and the previous condition of the track prevented the stadium from hosting other events, such as sectional or state track meets which were common over a decade ago.

“We can’t have a million dollar track and be surrounded by a $3 million problem and we don’t take care of it,” Perkins said. “We’re going to celebrate what we got today, but there’s some more work that we must do.”