During the first week of April, the special events include the Wake County Senior Games Silver Follies, a potpourri of music, dance, comedy and more held at the Garner Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, April 6, at 4 p.m. Check with the front desk about carpooling and transportation. The Northern Wake Carolina Steppers Line Dancers will perform along with the Steptacular Tappers and shaggers Garylor and Toni. “Moving On – Learning to Live with the Loss of Your Spouse,” a four-week series offered at 12:30 p.m. on Fridays during April is offered by Heartland Hospice. A snack lunch will be provided. To join, sign up by Wednesday, April 6. Remember there is free tax aid provided by volunteers with the local chapter of AARP through April 13. It is available Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. but you must sign up for an appointment. The Wednesday Zumba

The Wake Forest Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources (PRCR) Department is recruiting instructors and soliciting youth and adult course/program ideas for the Fall 2016/Winter 2017 Season. Wake Forest PRCR offers a wide variety of recreation classes and activities year round. Many of the classes and workshops the department currently offers exist because a local enthusiast expressed the desire to teach a program on a particular topic of interest. “We offer a wide variety of classes, activities and camps that meet the diverse needs and interests of the Wake Forest community,” Recreation Program Superintendent Monica Lileton said. “However, our programming success is due to our quality instructors and their dedication, enthusiasm and knowledge.” Adult offerings may involve one night workshops, active classes or unique programs. Instructors set their own class schedules, title, content and topic subject to the approval of the Recreation Superintendent and dependent upon facility availability. Youth programs may

Once again, for the second year, the Wake Forest Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources (PRCR) Department and Richland Creek Community Church will sponsor a free Special Needs Resource Fair on Saturday, April 23, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The fair will take place at Richland Creek Community Church at 3229 Burlington Mills Road. The event will include an array of professional vendors that specialize in providing a range of services, including therapeutic, health and wellness, educational, recreational, music, financial and legal, to children and adults with special needs. The fair is designed to offer local families the opportunity to learn about dozens of programs, services, products and resources – all in one location. Organizations and businesses that cater to or provide services to individuals with special needs are invited to apply as a vendor for the resource fair at no cost. “As the needs and demands of residents with

Area residents are invited to attend the 10th Wake Forest Memorial Flag-Raising Ceremony on Monday, April 4, at 11 a.m. The program will take place in Centennial Plaza, in front of the Wake Forest Town Hall, 301 S. Brooks St. The April 4 service will honor Richard Maxey who served his nation in the U.S. Marines. Members of Maxey’s family have been invited to participate in the ceremony which will include patriotic songs, special remarks, a memorial wreath laying and the ceremonial flag-raising. Following the raising of the American flag, the U.S. Marines service flag will be raised in recognition of the military branch in which Maxey served. Both flags will fly in Centennial Plaza throughout April. Photographs and other remembrances of Maxey will also be displayed in Centennial Plaza during the ceremony, then in the town hall lobby through the end of April. Presented by local veterans’ organizations to

The Town of Wake Forest will launch a free outdoor music series in its historic downtown on Friday, April 8. Presented by White Street Brewing Co., “Friday Night on White” will take place along South White Street from 6-9 p.m. on the second Friday night of each month from April through September. The Magic Pipers Band will kick off the concert series on April 8, followed by Brickhouse on May 13, The Will McBride Group on June 10, Stone Age Romeos on July 8, The Remedy on Aug. 12, and Crush on Sept. 9. Food and refreshments will be available for purchase at several downtown restaurants. A variety of food and dessert trucks will also be on site in the parking lot of Fidelity Bank, 231 S. White St. and along Owen Avenue. Food and dessert trucks scheduled to participate on April 8 include Bam Pow Chow, Charlie’s Kabob Grill

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

The Wake Forest Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources (PRCR) Department and the Recreation Advisory Board are joining 13 parks and recreation departments across our state to host a North Carolina Recreation & Park Association (NCRPA) Recre8 5k on Saturday, April 16. This family-friendly event will start and finish at E. Carroll Joyner Park at 701 Harris Road. Check-in on the day of the race starts at 8 a.m. and the race begins at 9:30 a.m. Registration is available online through April 14 at www.ncparkrun.com/#!wake-fores/o1nd3. The entry fee is $35 before March 31; and $45 from April 1-14. Everyone who registers before April 4 will receive a race T-shirt. Registrations will not be accepted on the day of the race. Designed to raise awareness of parks and recreation in North Carolina and raise funds to support the advancement of recreation in our state, the NCRPA Recre8 5k is an untimed running

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 by going to www.wakeforestgazette.com, find “Subscribe” on the first page and enter your information.

*The Wake Forest Farmers Market will be open in Renaissance Plaza on Saturday, April 2, with its usual winter hours, 10 a.m. to noon. *Retail 101, a free workshop offered by the Town of Wake Forest, will be held at the Renaissance Centre Thursday, March 31, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. with a light breakfast included. You are urged to register in advance. See article in this week’s issue. *Who knew that dirt could win an award? Wake Forest’s Dirt Day was judged the best new street festival in North Carolina towns recently. You can enjoy it all, from digging for sharks teeth to learning the best new gardening techniques on Saturday, April 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. along historic South White Street. *Everyone is invited to the grand opening of Wake Forest Fire Department’s Station #4 along with the christening of Engine #4 on Sunday, April 3,