The deadline to be a vendor at Wake Forest’s 35th annual Meet in the Street arts and crafts festival is Friday, Feb. 13. The festival will be held Saturday, May 2, in downtown Wake Forest. Sponsored by the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce, the festival offers a day with food, fun and entertainment and includes dozens of artisans’ booths offering handcrafted arts and crafts along South Taylor Street, South Brooks Street and South White Street. There will also be multiple entertainment venues and a beer garden. It runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Vendor applications are available online at www.wakeforestchamber.org and may also be picked up at the chamber office, 350 South White Street. The festival is free and open to everyone. For more information, visit www.wakeforestchamber.org, email Corey Hutcherson at atcorey@wakeforestchamber.org or call him at 919-229-8506.

If you have been a subscriber to The Wake Forest Gazette and now find you are not receiving weekly notices that the new issue is on line, the problem lies in the software for the paper’s email service, Mailchimp. If a subscriber’s inbasket is full or if there are other reasons why the email would not accept the Gazette notice, it will be listed as bumped. If that condition continues, Mailchimp will list that subscriber as unsubscribed and stop sending notices. To remedy the situation, if you want to receive the weekly notices, please re-subscribe.

Yes, it is time to start thinking about organizing the 2015 Relay for Life of Northern Wake. The kickoff celebration will be held Thursday, Feb. 5, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Mill Room at The Factory on South Main Street. This year Relay for Life is celebrating its 30th anniversary as the signature fundraising event for the American Cancer Society. The kickoff includes free food, prize drawings and details about joining the fight against cancer. To RSVP, go to www.facebook.com/NorthernWakeRelay, email MaryBeth0424@yahoo.com or call Marty Coward at 919-792-0316.

You surely will not be able to go to a farmers’ market Saturday if you live in and around Boston or on the coast of Maine. It will be all right to feel a little smug if you can score some winter greens, eggs, empanadas, bread, meat or cheese at the Wake Forest Farmers Market this Saturday, Jan. 31, which will be open from 10 a.m. to noon in the Renaissance Plaza on Brooks Street next to Elm Avenue. Fair weather may bring out more vendors and more shoppers, so go early. The market will be open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon through March. It will return to summer hours, 8 a.m. to noon, in April. See the market on Facebook, take a look at all the vendors and their wares as well as special events at www.wakeforestfarmersmarket.org or call 919-671-9269 if you need information.

The Koinonia Foundation has chosen Backpack Buddies programs in two schools and the Rolesville High School Pantry as the focus of this year’s ministry. You can help assuage hunger in young children and teens by donating to and attending the Koinonia Cares Charity Auction at The Forks Cafeteria on Saturday, Feb. 7, beginning at 5:30 p.m. To donate or purchase tickets, call Lynnette Beadle at 919-801-7726, email auction@koinoniawf.org or visit www.koinoniawf.org . The foundation is marking 25 years of meeting basic human needs in the greater Wake Forest area, and this year’s them is Caring for the Hearts of Our Community for 25 years.

The Wake Forest Optimist Club is sponsoring a trip to San Antonio, Texas, to raise funds for its various youth activities which include scholarships, bowling days with lunch, the Wake Forest Police Department’s Shop with a Cop at Christmas, brunch at the Ronald McDonald House and more. The five-day trip which will leave Sept. 20, 2015, includes the air fare, hotel room, transportation to and from Raleigh-Durham Airport, seven meals, barbeque dinner at a real Texas ranch, a sail down the Paseo del Rio, also known as the River Walk, the Venice of America, shopping at the Mexican Marketplace and more, all for $1,699. The price of the ticket may rise to $1,799 after March 20, so call Phyllis at 919-556-2593 for additional information and to book your ticket or tickets.

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) recently named the Town of Wake Forest as the recipient of the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its fiscal year 2014-15 budget. The award represents a significant achievement by the town and reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting. By earning the award, the Finance Department satisfies one of the goals outlined in the town’s strategic plan. In order to receive the budget award, Wake Forest was required to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well an entity’s budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device Budget documents must be rated “proficient” in all four categories and the 14 mandatory criteria within those categories to receive the award. When a

*The Wake Forest Farmers Market will be open in Renaissance Plaza on Brooks Street from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Jan. 31. *The Koinonia Foundation will hold its only fundraiser, the annual Koinonia Cares Charity Auction, on Saturday, Feb. 7, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at The Forks Cafeteria. See this issue for information about donations and tickets. *Shop til late and enjoy free refreshments and carriage rides Friday, Feb. 13, from 5 to 9 p.m. during the monthly Art After Hours. *Wake Forest’s Mardi Gras Festival will be held Saturday, Feb. 14, from 11 a.m. to  4 p.m. all over the historic downtown area. The day will be filled with activities for families and people of all ages. *The Reverse Raffle sponsored by the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce will be held Friday, March 20, at the Renaissance Center on Brooks Street. *Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America,