An overflow crowd got its first look at the Carneal ArtsRevive Building Friday night and many were pleasantly surprised.

Among the guests was Kay Phillips, whose family owned the building. The conversion, Phillips said, was an amazing transition.

“It looks wonderful,” she said. “This is great. I know my father would be so pleased.”

Phillips, whose maiden name is Carneal, said she was surprised to see the family named attached to the gallery.

“We had no idea when we sold it they would keep the name,” she said. “It was wonderful.”

ArtsRevive vice president Vickie Stoudenmire said she was especially pleased by the turnout.

“Attendance has been wonderful,” she said. “We are so excited. We have been working on this for more than a year. We had to work down to the last day to get the building ready, but we were able to do it.”

Volunteers who helped put everything together were also pleased to see the fruits of their labor come together.

Ray Thomas, who helped with the building’s maintenance work such as sanding, and painting, said he hopes the community will get as much enjoyment out of the gallery as those who helped bring it to Selma.

“This is something that we are very proud of and I hope people will come out and give it some support,” he said. “To have something like this in Selma is really great.”

The building’s ribbon cutting will take place Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Throughout the day the works of several Alabama artists will be on display from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, March 20 from noon to 4 p.m.

Having the ability to host a full weekend of events, ArtsRevive president Fran Pearce said, is very exciting.

“I’m about to burst,” she said. “This is everything we wanted and more.”