In a short meeting Tuesday night, the Wake Forest Planning Board voted unanimously to approve the updated Renaissance Plan for the larger downtown area and a rezoning for an outdoor storage facility on North White Street. Charles and Eloise Shepherd of Durham asked to have 2.05 acres between the CSX rail line and North White Street rezoned from general residential to light industrial conditional district. The triangle of land is bounded on the north by Franklin County. Eloise Shepherd told the board they own land immediately adjacent to this parcel in Franklin County and want to expand. Planning Director Chip Russell and a representative from Stantec, the consulting design firm for the update, explained the major points in the new Renaissance Plan, which include connecting the core parts of downtown which are now South White Street and Renaissance Plaza on Brooks Street, managing parking, creating destinations that will bring people

Forest Moon Theater will present “The Curious Savage” June 16-18 and 23-25 at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts, 405 S. Brooks St. Friday and Saturday showtimes are 7:30 p.m.; Sunday showtime is 3 p.m. Greedy children institutionalize their mother in an attempt to get their hands on the family fortune, but Mrs. Savage enjoys the last laugh in this warm comedy about sanatorium patients who are saner than people in the outside world. Advance tickets are $15 plus tax for adults and $13 plus tax for students and seniors. These prices reflect a savings of $3 per adult and student/senior “day of” admission tickets. For more information, visit www.wakeforestrencen.org or call the Renaissance Centre Box Office at 919-435-9458.

Fireworks, games, live entertainment and much more await you at Wake Forest’s 2017 Fourth of July Celebration. Now in its 44th year, this community extravaganza is Wake Forest’s most eagerly-anticipated summer-time event serving up two days’ worth of fun and excitement for the entire family. The festivities get underway with the Fireworks Spectacular on Monday, July 3, at Wake Forest High School’s Trentini Stadium on Stadium Drive. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and admission is $5 per person. Children age six and under are admitted free. Advance tickets to the Fireworks Spectacular are now available for purchase online at WFJuly4th.com. Anyone who purchases a ticket online will receive a print at home ticket, which must be redeemed on the day of the event for a wristband at the red tent, located at the main gate. Beginning Monday, June 12, advance tickets will also be available for purchase at the following area

Wake Forest Downtown’s Friday Night on White returns on Friday, June 9 with Bull City Syndicate as the featured performer for the free outdoor music series in Wake Forest’s historic downtown. It is presented by White Street Brewing Company from 6 to 9 p.m. on the second Friday night from April through September. Food and refreshments will be available for purchase at several downtown restaurants during Friday Night on White. A variety of food and dessert trucks will also be on site in the parking lot of Fidelity Bank, 231 South White St., and along Owen Avenue. Food and dessert trucks scheduled to participate on June 9 include Arepa Culture NC, Bam Pow Chow, Charlie’s Kabob Grill on Wheels, Cousins Maine Lobster, Flaming Highway Grill & Seafood, King’s Authentic Philly Cheesesteak, Kona Ice, Lumpy’s Ice Cream, Sweet Traditions, VFW Chuckwagon, and Virgil’s Jamaica. Event organizers urge anyone planning to attend Friday Night on White to know

Suicide Blonde, an ‘80’s cover band, will play for a concert to benefit the nonprofit CHERUBS-CDH on Friday, June 9, from 9 p.m. to midnight at the Renaissance Centre for the Arts on Brooks Street Tickets are $10 before the event, available through EventBrite, and $15 at the door. CHERUBS-CDH is based in Wake Forest and was formed in 1995 by two parents to make the public aware of the prevalence of CDH, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, in babies – one in every 2,500 births – and support research in the treatment of the lung condition. There are 1,600 cases in the U.S. every year, and the cause is currently unknown. The diaphragm is formed in the first trimester of pregnancy and controls the lungs’ ability to inhale and exhale. CDH occurs when the diaphragm fails to form or to close totally and an opening allows abdominal organs into the chest