A Smithsonian traveling exhibit, “Hometown Teams,” will be at the Wake Forest Historical Museum next spring from May 16 to June 30, the museum’s director, Ed Morris, has announced. This is a tremendous coup for the museum, which opened in 2010, and is expected to draw a large number of visitors. To accommodate them, the museum will be open seven days a week for the run of the exhibit. There will be a number of special events during the exhibit, but the plans for those are incomplete. This year’s special exhibit will be locally produced, “Wake Forest in World War II,” in the lobby from June 22 through Oct. 5. Morris plans to show at least two films, “Patton” and “Twelve O’clock High” during that time, and the Wake Forest Historical Association will hold a program about the experiences of two local men, Willis H. Winston and Elrie Walton, during

If you want to know about a town, a good place to start is its cemeteries. And that is strikingly true of the Wake Forest Cemetery on North White Street with the adjoining Mangum Cemetery on Taylor Street. Together, those headstones and the stories of those buried there provide a tapestry of lives and endeavors over the 180 years there has been a Wake Forest. College presidents and professors, slaves and household servants, businessmen both black and white, farmers, mayors, dentists and doctors. Fools or the famous – they are all here. Come to find out some of those stories Saturday, May 10, when the town’s Cemetery Advisory Board hosts the annual cemetery tour from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The rain date is May 17. Once again family members and volunteers will be at many of the graves to talk about those buried there and sometimes exhibit photographs or

On Saturday, May 10, the Wake Forest Garden Club will host its annual Mad Hatters’ Garden Party at the Wake Forest Historical Museum on North Main Street. The event will include the Mad Hatters’ Tea and Garden Seminars from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; an Art and Garden Market and a Classic Car Show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and the drawing of winning tickets for the Mad Hatters’ Raffle at 4 p.m. You’re invited to join us for a plated “afternoon” tea and two garden seminars at the Wake Forest Historical Museum. Wear your own “Mad Hat” and receive a free raffle ticket. The seminars will take place at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Karen Diebolt will demonstrate how to make exquisite gifts using colored foam and flowers and Trisha Bell, a local gardening expert, will talk about gardening in small spaces. Tickets for the tea and seminars

OK – you will not find cats in pajamas Friday evening during Art After Hours in downtown Wake Forest. What you will find is “Sweets and Treats and Cats, Oh My,” a special fundraiser for SAFE Haven for Cats at Wake Forest Art & Frame Shop. From 5 to 9 p.m. you will see art featuring cats, lots of cats, in different poses, along with a bake sale and special raffle with all funds raised going to SAFE Haven, Raleigh’s no-kill shelter and clinic that serves Wake, Durham, Orange and Franklin counties. The art work will be by local artists Bonnie Becker, Jamie Miller, Beth Massey and Kaleigh Hodgson with Angelia Hayes’ pottery and woodwork by Sami Chanmala. George Tatum, a local pianist will entertain. There will be punch and refreshments. Children are welcome to engage in arts and crafts or get adorned by a face painter. Also Friday night,

What is your vision for E. Carroll Joyner Park? Do you want ball fields and a community building? Do you want more walking and biking trails? Or perhaps you want a large children’s playground. The Wake Forest Recreation Advisory Board is hosting a series of public meetings in May to solicit public input concerning the second phase of E. Carroll Joyner Park. ‘Picture Joyner Park’ is the name given to the town’s approach to updating the Joyner Park Master Plan. The first of the interactive public meetings coordinated by the Recreation Advisory Board was held Tuesday, May 6, but there is another opportunity tomorrow, Thursday, May 8, when the meeting will be held at Wake Forest Presbyterian Church at 12605 Capital Boulevard. There will be a brief presentation, followed by an open forum discussion where attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and share suggestions. Future meetings will be