Montgomery Learns Lessons from Selma’s 50th Anniversary
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About 80 thousand people poured into Selma over the weekend to commemorate ‘Bloody Sunday.’
What may have seemed to be a recipe for chaos, actually went very well according to State Tourism Director Lee Sentell.
“I don’t know how this could have been any better than it was. All of the cities and counties in the surrounding area really worked together. Everybody was very patient. Everybody shared resources. I know a lot of barricades that were in Selma for the President’s visit belonged to the city of Montgomery, and they cooperated. I think the spirit of cooperation was outstanding,” said Sentell.
In a few weeks, Montgomery will hold its own events commemorating the Selma to Montgomery March.
And Mayor Todd Strange says he learned some lessons from Selma over the weekend.
“Certainly a lot of on the ground lessons we learned, crowd control. We don’t know how many to expect, but we’ve got to be prepared either to expand or to contract. There were a lot of other organizations around. We’ll have 40-50 other agencies that are going to be in Montgomery,” said Strange.
Although Sentell believes there may be a smaller crowd for Montgomery, he says the total impact of the 50th anniversary events will continue to serve Alabama well in the years to come.
“Many people had never been to this area before. And so now that they have been here, now that they have seen Selma, now that they have seen Montgomery, now that they have seen Marion– I think more people are going to be coming back,” said Sentell.
Events are planned for the week of March 23-27 in Montgomery. Stay tuned to Alabama News Network for the very latest.
