The Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts will continue the “Rockin’ the Forest” music series with hardcore honky-tonk music by The Backsliders on Saturday, March 19, at 8 p.m. According to The Backsliders website, the band was formed in 1992 when Steve Howell and Chip Robinson began playing as a guitar-mandolin duet in Raleigh. They soon found themselves wanting to amp up their sound in the spirit of the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Rolling Stones – rock and roll dudes playing country-tinged tunes with just the right amount of attitude. Enter Danny Kurtz on bass, Brad Rice on electric guitar and Jeff Dennis on drums. The line-up of two electric guitars, acoustic guitar, bass and drums became The Backsliders calling card, and the band began drawing legions of local fans to their frenetic live shows. With Rice now in Austin, TX, the new line-up features Greg Rice on keyboards.

The nonprofit community-service Wake Forest Woman’s Club must raise the funds it uses to do good work around Wake Forest. One fundraising effort has members baking and crafting to present tasty and appealing items for sale at Wake Forest High School’s Battalion Bazaar in the school gym on March 12. At the same event, they’ll “dig in” to sell flower bulbs, seeds and plants through Flower Power, a nationally recognized collaboration “planted” by two mail-order gardening companies and now owned by Vesey’s Seeds Ltd. Flower Power allows clubs to sell quality products with the ease of online purchasing, while earning half the profits – profits that Wake Forest Woman’s Club will “plow” into the community through service projects including school tutoring and proctoring, free books in laundromats, an annual scholarship contest for area students, support of the military and first responders, assistance at town events and supporting local helping programs

The Town of Wake Forest is offering area residents and businesses the opportunity to protect themselves from identity theft and dispose of confidential documents in an environmentally responsible way by hosting a free “Shred-It” event on Friday, April 15. The event will take place from noon to 7 p.m. – or until the shred truck is full – in the parking lot of the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre at 405 Brooks Street. There is a limit of four “banker-box” sized boxes or four large bags of paper per household or business and a limit of one trip per household. The shredded paper will be recycled, so participants are urged to help reduce contamination by removing all non-paper materials in advance, such as plastic binders, plastic folders and metal tabs. In addition, items that can damage the equipment will not be accepted. Prohibited items include wet or moist paper, hanging file

Summer is just around the corner and the Town of Wake Forest Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources (PRCR) Department is now accepting registrations for Camp Nahele. Designed for children ages 6 to 12, Camp Nahele (“nahele” means “forest” in Hawaiian) is a full-day recreational summer camp program designed to enhance your child’s summer experiences through arts and crafts, education, nature, recreational and sporting activities. Offered Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the 10-week camp will operate from June 13 through Aug. 19 at the Wake Forest Community House, 133 W. Owen Ave. Early drop-off is 7:30 a.m. and late pick up is 6 p.m. Participants must be at least 6 years old on or before June 1, 2016. The cost of the camp is $100/week. Summer camp fills quickly, so be sure to register early to secure your spot. Register online at http://wakeforestnc.recdesk.com/recdeskportal/. Day camp parent packets

Howell Jones, 86, of Kittrell was drafted into the U.S. Army just as the Korean Conflict started. After Basic and Advanced Infantry Training, he was assigned to the West Coast of the United States where he and many other soldiers were shipped off to serve on the front lines of the Korean War. That was June 1950. He was assigned to Company B, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Calvary Division. He quickly learned the techniques of combat operations and earned the stripes of a corporal. When the unit encountered a major North Korean Army unit in early 1951, around Teague, South Korea, he was wounded and sent home for recovery leave, promoted to sergeant and discharged. Howell recently received the Korean Ambassador’s Medal for Peace. The accompanying citation presented with the medal thanked him for his dedication and valor while defending the Korean population from the invaders from North Korea and

The Town of Wake Forest will host the 6th Annual Triangle Bicycle & Pedestrian Workshop on Friday, March 11, from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts, 405 Brooks Street. The workshop will focus on an array of bicycle and pedestrian topics, including local and statewide initiatives, N.C. Department of Transportation and legislative updates, the Wake County Greenway Plan, Safe Routes to Schools and more. Wake Forest Mayor Jones will begin the program by welcoming the attendees and highlighting several of the town’s bicycle and pedestrian accomplishments. Other speakers will include representatives from the NCDOT – Division of Bicycle and Planning Division, Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO, NC Metropolitan Mayor’s Coalition, Bike Walk NC, and UNC Highway Safety Research Center. The workshop is free and open to everyone, but pre-registration is required. To pre-register, visit www.wakeforestnc.gov/triangle-bicycle-pedestrian-workshop.aspx. Following the workshop, attendees

On Feb. 24 Southern Company (NYSE: SO) and PowerSecure International, Inc. (NYSE: POWR) announced that the boards of directors of both companies have approved a definitive merger agreement through which Southern Company will acquire PowerSecure, with PowerSecure becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company. Southern Company believes that the advancement of distributed infrastructure technologies – the very technologies in which PowerSecure specializes through its unique business model – helps meet customers’ future energy needs as part of the full portfolio of energy resources. These technologies typically receive highest demand largely in markets outside of the Southeast, where distributed infrastructure investments tend to provide greater customer value. Through this natural evolution of the companies’ current business models, the combined company would be particularly suited to address reliability concerns and promote technology advances with a focus on the future. As Southern Company and PowerSecure prepare for tomorrow, the combination of one

*The Wake Forest Farmers Market will be open in Renaissance Plaza on Saturday, March 12, with its usual winter hours, 10 a.m. to noon. *The Wake Forest High School AJROTC third annual Battalion Bazaar will be held Saturday, March 12, at the school from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $2 or a can of food to donate. *Primary Election Day for Democrats and Republicans is Tuesday, March 15, with the polls open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Early voting in the primaries is also available through Saturday, March 12. The Wake Forest early voting site is at the Northern Regional Center on East Holding Avenue, and the hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, March 10 and 11, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 12. *The annual Carnival for the Kids sponsored by the Wake Forest Police Department will be held