The Selma Welcome Center is ready to welcome visitors to Selma from down the road or across the globe.

The new center celebrated its ribbon cutting Tuesday afternoon with city officials and friends from the Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce.

The new building, which puts the welcome center closer to the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, has been six months in the making.

“I’m just happy it’s back open because we have had so many people who have toured our city,” said Selma Mayor George Evans. “We are still in the year of the 50th anniversary, and I’m really happy we were able to get this completed. I think it’s in a great location.”

The center was forced to move after the owner of its previous building found a tenant for the property.

The welcome center is now at 14 Broad Street and in a building the city of Selma already owned.

Renovations took longer than expected once relocation got underway. Air conditioning issues and other renovations delayed the center from opening in February as originally planned.

“It’s been an ongoing process with different things we had to do. It’s an old building. There were some structural problems we didn’t know about,” Evans said.

The welcome center is staffed completely by volunteers. Anyone interested in helping should stop by during regular operating hours.

The facility is open Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The center will provide visitors with brochures on local attractions, maps and information about local dining and lodging. There is also a new line of Selma merchandise, including T-shirts, mugs, hats and other souvenirs for sale.