diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b41cbd25ca..991c256349 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ endef
 $(eval $(call create_help_target,arkouda-help,ARKOUDA_HELP_TEXT))
 
 # Set the arkouda server version from the VERSION file
-VERSION=$(shell python -c "import versioneer; print(versioneer.get_versions()[\"version\"])")
+VERSION=$(shell python3 -c "import versioneer; print(versioneer.get_versions()[\"version\"])")
 # Test for existence of VERSION file
 # ifneq ("$(wildcard $(VERSIONFILE))","")
 # 	VERSION=$(shell cat ${VERSIONFILE})
@@ -367,6 +367,9 @@ CLEAN_TARGETS += test-clean
 test-clean:
 	$(RM) $(TEST_TARGETS) $(addsuffix _real,$(TEST_TARGETS))
 
+version:
+	@echo $(VERSION);
+
 #####################
 #### Epilogue.mk ####
 #####################