Veterans brought their families and friends to the American Legion and Alabama National Guard Armory Catfish Dinner Saturday. 

The menu consisted of fish, pulled pork, chicken, French fries, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese and more. The dinner was free to all.

James A. Edwards, commander of American Legion Post 20, said he believes the people who came out had a good time. He said after talking to the commander of the Alabama National Guard Armory, the two organizations decided to collaborate and bring something fun to veterans where they can interact with others.

“We talked to them and presented the idea and our goal was to give veterans to get to meet new people in their area,” Edwards said. “We’ve had a pretty good number, not quite what we expected, but had about 200 people to come out.”

He said he hopes that veterans felt appreciated in result of attending the dinner.

“A lot of the veterans don’t know people. If they want to get help on anything like starting their disability they could meet people at events like this and find out how to get started,” Edwards said.

Teresa O’Shieldas attended the dinner with her husband and said she felt like the event was a good idea.

“I think this is a great service to the community for everybody to get together, eat and socialize,” O’Shieldas said.

Selma City Councilwoman Susan Keith said she the event showed respect to veterans and what they have done for the country.

“This is such a wonderful and meaningful event. It is so important we let veterans know in every opportunity we have they are appreciated. So often they feel forgotten and in fact they are,” Keith said. “We need to do better in what we offer our veterans.”