The public gets its first chance to see the huge new education facility at Pike-Lincoln Technical Center in Eolia on Friday, May 8th.

An open house is from 5 to 7 p.m., with a ribbon cutting at 5:30. There will be tours, free food and a chance to visit with educators and students.

Classes began recently at the 28 thousand-square-foot facility, which came in just under the three-and-a-half-million-dollar budget.

The building replaces the one destroyed by fire in December 2011. While construction was under way, classes were held in the transportation building at the Eolia campus and in the former Clopton Middle School facility a few miles away.

The technical school serves more than 200 students from Pike and Lincoln counties and other parts of the region