The Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts welcomes the return of the “Neck of the Woods” performance series on Friday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. Presented and sponsored by Wake Forest ARTS, Neck of the Woods is a variety performance series featuring emerging local artists. Each show is different and may consist of several performing arts acts, including actors, dancers, musicians, comedians, writers and spoken word artists. The July 15 installment of Neck of the Woods will feature the Blue Moon String Quartet; old-time bluegrass band DryBread Road; storyteller Ken Grant; and singer/musician Pat Tyler. Assembled in February 2015, the Blue Moon String Quartet is comprised of Hollis Brown (first violin), Angela DiPaolo (second violin), Megan Maloney (viola), and Jeff Mahrer (cello). With a repertoire that incorporates multiple genres and artists such as The Beatles, Adele, Mozart, Coldplay and many more, the group aspires to delight audiences of all

Purple Heart Medal recipients and military veterans are invited to the eighth annual Wake Forest Purple Heart Dinner on Saturday, Aug. 6, at 5:30 p.m., at Richland Creek Community Church at 3229 Burlington Mills Road. Hosted by the Wake Forest Purple Heart Foundation, the dinner is an opportunity for the public to help honor those wounded in battle. In addition to Purple Heart Medal recipients and their families, the dinner is open to all veterans, military families and the public. This year’s keynote speaker is retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Timothy Payne of Raleigh. An 11-year veteran, he was deployed three times with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg. Payne was on foot patrol in Afghanistan on July 3, 2011, when a 30-pound improvised explosive device detonated under him. Payne lost both legs in the explosion and spent more than a year and a half in the hospital,

Cantaloupe, watermelon, peaches and peach ice cream, blueberries, tomatoes, sweet corn – all the special food treats of summer are for sale every Saturday morning at the Wake Forest Farmers Market in the Renaissance Plaza on Brooks Street. If you like to eat well, you can find everything for a week’s meals at the market beginning with the many varieties and cuts of meats – beef, chicken, pork, goat, lamb, turkey and rabbit – along with eggs, seafood, breads and baked goods, fair trade coffee, chocolate and local honey. There are also a number of other vendors offering jewelry, baskets, wood products, soaps, lotions, dog treats, fresh-cut flowers, perennial and annual plants, and herbs. The farmers market is open from 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday. There is always free music – leave a tip, the musicians are not paid – along with Master Gardener volunteers to help with your

The Wake Forest Human Relations Council (HRC) is soliciting youth and adult nominations for the 7th Annual Good Neighbor of the Year Award. The award is designed to recognize Wake Forest residents who work to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods without seeking recognition for their efforts. Nominees are sought in two divisions: adult and youth between the ages of 13 and 18. In order to qualify a nominee must be a Town of Wake Forest resident who has made a significant contribution to the community between Sept. 1, 2015, and Aug. 31, 2016. Employees of the Town of Wake Forest are not eligible. Nominations forms are available at the Wake Forest Town Hall and may be downloaded from the town’s website at www.wakeforestnc.gov/goodneighborday.aspx. Completed forms may be mailed to Town of Wake Forest, c/o Virginia Jones, 301 S. Brooks St., Wake Forest, NC 27587. Email nominations will be accepted at hrc@wakeforestnc.gov. Forms

Wakefield Rotary club of Wake Forest recently installed a new president and officers for the 2016-2017 year. Angela Bendorf Jamison is the new club president. Incoming officers and board members include Matt Archer, immediate past president; Teresa Black, secretary; Michael Travis, treasurer; Steve Arrington, president elect; Seth Asbill, sergeant-at-arms; Matthew Hilliard, membership chair; and George Aux, Rotary Foundation chair. Laura Jazab will serve as newsletter editor/public image chair; Susan Martin, Area 2 assistant governor and service project chair; Heather Holding, programs chair; and Louis Mullinger, club historian. Anyone interested in becoming a Wakefield Rotarian may contact Membership Chair Matt Hilliard mhilliard05@gmail.com, 919-758-9161 or show up for a breakfast meeting any Thursday, 7:45 a.m. at  the Heritage Club. The Wakefield Rotary Club meets for breakfast every Thursday, 8 a.m. – 9 a.m., at the Heritage Club, 1250 Heritage Club Dr., Wake Forest, NC, 27587. The hot breakfast buffet opens at 7:30

Two big events are on the calendar for July and August. The first is the annual Willie Ray’s Beach Party Cookout on Thursday, July 21, from 10 a.m. to noon with entertainment and great food as well as pulling the winner of the raffle for the handmade quilt Donna Pernell made and donated. Tickets are still on sale at $1 each or six for $5. Space is limited for the beach party so sign up at the front desk. The Ladies of Valor will present a veteran’s quilt and there will be a veteran’s pinning and certificate ceremony. The entertainment will be karaoke by Brenda and Jimmy Lewis, the Carolina Steppers Line Dancers and the Wake Forest Dulcimer Players. The sponsors are Willie Ray, Brookdale of Wake Forest, Carillon Assisted Living, GlaxoSmithKline, Christian Brothers Automotive, Clear Caption, Meals on Wheels, Resources for Seniors and Mickey Rochelle for the Town of

The Comfort Zone Camp, a nonprofit bereavement camp that transforms the lives of children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver, will be at Camp Kanata the weekend of Sept. 30 and is inviting Wake Forest community members to become involved with damp as Big Buddy or mentor volunteers, camp nurses, grief therapists and other support roles. The free and fun camps include confidence building programs and age-based support groups (for children ages 7 through 17) that break the emotional isolation grief often brings. CZC will hold a training session for new volunteers at Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Triangle on Saturday, Aug. 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The group is also hosting the sixth Annual Comfort Zone Camp Charity Golf Classic on Sept. 12 at Brier Creek Country Club in Raleigh. One day of golf will fund a weekend of therapeutic

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, July 16, with its regular spring, summer and fall hours, 8 a.m. to noon. *A Mobile N.C. DMV Driver’s License Unit will return to the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre Annex on Brooks Street on Monday, July 18, and will be on site from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. *Monday Night Bingo at The Factory is hosted by the Wake Forest Kiwanis Club in the Mill Room from 7 to 9:30 p.m. All profits support the club’s projects for children. Visit www.wakeforestbingo.com for more information. *Neck of the Woods will be back at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre on Brooks Street on Friday, July 15, for a variety performance. See this week’s issues for all details. *Hope House at 334 North Allen Road will celebrate the completion of its indoor/outdoor room pavilion on Saturday, July 16, from 11