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The Selma and Dallas County Area Chamber of Commerce teamed up with local woodworker Anthony Langdon and seven area businesses and organizations to celebrate the city’s heritage as the Butterfly Capital of Alabama.

On Saturday morning, April 26, they held a special unveiling for the artwork and a butterfly release to celebrate this designation.

Chamber executive director Sheryl Smedley said the chamber received funding from the Center on Rural Innovation to fund this project. Langdon then designed the butterflies and provided each of the seven entities with painting kits to design their own butterflies.

The organizations that had butterflies included International Paper, Vaughan Regional Medical Center, Vaughan Community Services Senior Center, Wallace Community College Selma, Edmundite Missions Academy, YMCA of Dallas County and Cahaba Mental Health Center.

“Each organization created their own theme,” Smedley said. “Each of these butterflies will be spread throughout the communities at a later time. This is something that will help brighten up our community.”

Once the butterflies were painted on the three-quarter-inch plywood, Langdon sealed them to protect the painting from the weather and for them to last a long time.

For Langdon, he said this was huge for him to get the opportunity to participate in this project.

“That makes me feel wonderful,” Langdon said. “That lets me know that whatever I do, people see my work. It’s not just being done. And that says a lot.”

Langdon said he wanted to thank Smedley and Chamber President Jackie Smith for selecting him to do this work.

“That’s a very high honor,” Langdon said. “I’ve told (Sheryl) and Jackie, thank you. And to all the people and the chamber members, thank you. There’s many people they could’ve chosen, and they chose me.”

Langdon’s work is available on his Facebook page.

Selma was named the Butterfly Capital of Alabama in 1982 thanks to the efforts of Mallieve Breeding. It was recognized with an official flag to the Federated Garden Clubs of Selma by the state organization to recognize the city’s status. Breeding passed away on March 15, 2018.