Construction began Monday morning on an interim memorial at the shuttered Pulse nightclub in Orlando, where 49 people were killed and dozens more were injured in a mass shooting in June 2016.
Staff members with the Orange County Regional History Center on Sunday collected mementos left by visitors outside the vacant building, so that they could be preserved.
The fence was removed from the around the building, marking the first time the general public has been able to view it since the massacre. A new fence bearing images and messages to remember the victims of the 2016 shooting will be erected around the property and will remain standing for 60 days.
Visitors will only have access to the nightclub's sign in the meantime. The site will become a permanent memorial and museum once a design plan is selected.
Barbara Poma, who owns Pulse and serves as executive director for the nonprofit onePulse Foundation, said the changes are welcome.
"It will be nice for Pulse not to look like a crime scene anymore, but (to look like) a place that you can come and memorialize," she said.
Gail Bennett, of Michigan, traveled to Orlando with her daughter for a vacation and chose to visit the closed venue Sunday.
"You can't say Orlando and think of Orlando, Florida, without thinking about what happened here," she said.
The Cox Media Group National Content Desk contributed to this report.
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