Put on your fancy hat and your walking shoes and join the Wake Forest Garden Club for its annual Mad Hatter’s Tea, Garden Market and Garden Tour. The festivities are on Saturday, May 9, and are at the Wake Forest Historical Museum at 414 North Main Street in Wake Forest. The Tour, Garden Market and Classic Car show begin at 10 am. and go until 4 p.m..  The plated tea will be served from 11 am until 2 pm. This year the theme of the tour is pools, barns and backyard retreats, and all 10 gardens are located in or around the North Main Street Historical District. Pottery, jewelry, paintings and other art will be on display and available for purchase in our Garden Market, along with locally grown plants. Local classic car aficionados will have their prized vehicles on display and will be happy to share experiences and expertise

This year’s Wake Forest Singer’s Concert is all about dance and dancers. It will be held at the Renaissance Centre Sunday, April 12, beginning at 5 p.m., and the featured guests will be dancers from the Broughton High School Dance Company and Dance Ensemble. Tickets are $6 and can be purchased at the door or online at www.wakeforestrencen.org. There is no charge for children 10 and under; there will be a cash concession. Ginger Graves is the director and Susan Moss is the accompanist.

The Free Spirits Ensemble of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra will present “Back by Popular Demand” at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts on Friday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m. Featuring the most requested works performed by the ensemble in its 13-year history, the occasion will include the works of Richard Faith, Elizabeth Raum, Lanette Lind and Astro Piazzolla. Tickets are $12 (plus tax) for adults, $10 (plus tax) for students and seniors and children ages 12 and under are admitted for free. Advance tickets can be purchased on the Renaissance Centre website at http://www.wakeforestnc.gov/tickets-events.aspx. On the day of the event tickets may be purchased at the door. For more information, visit www.wakeforestnc.gov/renaissance-centre.aspx or call 919-435-9458. The Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts is located at 405 S. Brooks St. in the heart of downtown Wake Forest. To learn about upcoming events at the Renaissance Centre, call the

The 35th annual Trentini Foundation banquet will be held Saturday, April 18, at The Forks Cafeteria. The speaker for the evening is Republican state Senator Chad Barefoot, who is in his second term representing parts of Wake and Franklin counties. The winners of the two Trentini Scholarships, one for a graduating senior at Wake Forest High School and the other for a graduating senior at Heritage High School, will be announced at the dinner. All of the six nominees at the two schools will be introduced, and the winner of the technical school/community college scholarship will also be announced. The foundation awards a $30,000 scholarship to the winner at Wake Forest High and gives $1,000 to each of the five nominees who are not selected for the scholarship. Currently the scholarship for the Heritage High winner is $5,000, but the foundation and parents are working to increase the endowment and

Wake Forest’s popular spring street festival, Meet in the Street, will be back on South White Street Saturday, May 2, for the 35th year, bigger and better than ever. Instead of confining the vendors and the fun to just one street, they will spill over into South Taylor Street and Brooks Street. And there will be more than 100 artisans’ booths along with food, live music, street performances and children’s activities. The popular beer garden will return. It is all free – except when you buy that painting or that necklace – and will last from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is presented by the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce and Wake Forest Downtown Inc.

The Wake Forest Police Department is warning area residents not to be fooled by scammers impersonating IRS investigators. Callers claiming to be from the IRS tell intended victims they owe taxes and must pay using a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer. The scammers threaten those who refuse to pay with arrest, deportation or loss of a business or driver’s license. Potential phone scam victims may be told they owe money that must be paid immediately to the IRS or they are entitled to big refunds. When unsuccessful the first time, sometimes phone scammers call back trying a new strategy. The callers who commit this fraud often share the following characteristics: Use common names and fake IRS badge numbers. Know the last four digits of the victim’s Social Security number. Make caller ID appear as if the IRS is calling. Send bogus IRS emails to support their scam. Call a second

The CenturyLink Community Relations Team is once again hosting a Community Yard Sale with proceeds benefitting the Franklin County Relay for Life. The event is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday, April 25, in the company parking lot at 14111 Capital Boulevard, just north of Wake Forest. Bobby Shatterly, Area Plant Supervisor and volunteer chairman for the CenturyLink Relay for Life team, is enthusiastic about this annual event. “We encourage people in the community to reserve a spot, and then get busy with their spring cleaning at home. It’s the perfect time to turn unwanted items into cash!” Yard sale spots are sold for $20 each, and 100 percent of the money raised goes to Relay for Life. All the proceeds from selling merchandise belongs to the seller. Anyone interested in reserving a spot needs to contact Stacey Arnold at CenturyLink. She can be reached via email

The Wake Forest Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department will sponsor a free Special Needs Resource Fair Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Richland Creek Community Church, 3229 Burlington Mills Road. The event will include many professional vendors which specialize in providing services to children and adults with special needs. The fair will offer local families the opportunity to learn about dozens of programs, services, products and resources in one location. Organizations and businesses that provide those services or resources are invited to apply as a vendor at no cost. For more information, contact Recreation Program Superintendent Monica Lileton at 919-435-9563 or mlileton@wakeforestnc.gov.  

It is time to clean out your bookshelves and share those books you enjoyed to make room for more. It is the annual used book sale sponsored by the Friends of Wake Forest Library. The sale will be held Saturday, May 2, in the Ledford Center at 120 South Wingate Street on the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary campus. Everyone is invited to shop from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., but Friends members can begin shopping at 8 a.m. Memberships, as low as $5 for an individual, will be available at the door from 8 a.m. and throughout the day. Please no credit cards; cash or checks only for the sale and memberships. The collection bins have been placed in 15 handy collection sites around town. Please donate recently published hardcover and paperback books in good condition as well as CDs and DVDs that are in playable and good condition are

With longer daylight hours, warmer sun and rising (usually) temperatures, the spring vegetables and many longtime Wake Forest Farmers Market vendors are back in the tents in the parking lot at Renaissance Plaza on Brooks Street. You have longer to shop too – from 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday. Next Saturday, April 18, will be the Spring Craft Market where you will find fashion, décor and gifts for Mother’s Day or just any day. The hand-crafted items available will include unique jewelry, hand-knitted scarves and felted hats, fabric bags, wire-wrapped utensils, original paintings, pottery, cheerful bird feeders, colorful dog collars, eco-friendly soaps, fairy gardens and sun catchers. There is always lots of parking. Every Saturday you will find farm-fresh produce, pasture-raised meats, free-range eggs, local cheese, local honey, delicious baked goods, and assorted crafts items. For a full list of vendors and their wares, go to www.wakeforestfarmersmarket.org and you