The Town of Wake Forest is currently accepting applications from area high school students interested in serving on the Youth in Government Advisory Board for the 2018-19 school year. Applications and recommendation forms are available in the town clerk’s office at town hall and on the town’s website at www.wakeforestnc.gov/youth-in-government-advisory-board.aspx.Completed applications must be received no later than 5 p.m. Monday, April 30. Only high school students (grades 9-12) are eligible to serve on the youth board, including rising ninth graders. Members serve four-year terms or until graduation, whichever comes first. The board is comprised of eight to 20 members. No more than four can live outside the corporate town limits. For the upcoming school year, the board will have an opening for at least nine members, one of which may be an out-of-town member. The youth board advises the town board on issues of interest to area youth. Board members also

The Town of Wake Forest is in the process of developing a Comprehensive Transportation Plan to address all transportation methods, including driving, walking, biking and transit. As part of that effort, the town is conducting an online survey to gather input from area residents to help direct transportation planning efforts. The survey is available online at www.wakeforestnc.gov/2018-comprehensive-transportation-plan.aspx from now through Saturday, May 26, and takes approximately five minutes to complete. The survey is an important element in the Town’s transportation planning efforts. Officials plan to incorporate survey responses to address transportation challenges throughout Wake Forest. For more information, contact Transportation Planning Manager Suzette Morales at 919-435-9510 or smorales@wakeforestnc.gov.

Everyone is invited to the official grand opening of the Taylor Street Park Sprayground on Saturday, April 14, at 11 a.m. The sprayground is located in the Taylor Street Park near the Alston-Massenburg Center at 416 North Taylor Street. The grand opening celebration will include a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony, brief remarks by Mayor Vivian Jones and light refreshments. Parents are urged to bring their kids and their bathing suits, so they can make a splash after the ribbon-cutting. As part of the event, the Wake Forest Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Department will unveil a park bench donated by the Wake Forest Kiwanis Club in honor of Thomas J. Dimmock, affectionately known as Mr. Kiwanis. Dimmock, who passed away in 2015, led the Kiwanis Club’s involvement in the effort to bring a sprayground to Taylor Street Park. The Taylor Street Park Sprayground is a dynamic, zero-depth aquatic play area designed

Raleigh novelist Elaine Neil Orr will visit Page 158 Books in Wake Forest’s Renaissance Plaza on Brooks Street at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 26, for an evening of reading and conversation about her new novel, Swimming Between Worlds. Orr, the critically acclaimed writer of “A Different Sun,” brings readers a Southern coming-of-age novel that sets three very different young people against the tumultuous years of the American civil rights movement. Tacker Hart left his home in North Carolina as a local high school football hero, but returns in disgrace after being fired from a prestigious architectural assignment in West Africa. Yet the culture and people he grew to admire have left their mark on him. Adrift, he manages his father’s grocery store and becomes reacquainted with a girl he barely knew growing up. Kate Monroe’s parents have died, leaving her the family home and the right connections in her Southern town. But a

During February the Wake Forest Inspections Department issued permits for the Fairfield Inn on Retail Drive near Durham Road, five commercial buildings and 61 new homes that include eight townhouses. Palmetto Design Associates will build the Fairfield Inn at 12051 Retail Drive. The fees were $69,550 and the building is estimated to add $7.3 million to the tax base. Landmark Construction is constructing two small retail building behind the bank at 1821 South Main Street. Together the fees were $26,579.93 and the estimated value is $1,597,000. Landmark is also building the office for Wake Forest Dental Arts at 1001 Stadium Drive with fees of $16,800 and value of $1.2 million. Venture Construction Company is building the two 981 Crossing buildings on Retail Drive with fees of $31,319.42 and a value of $1.9 million. The department also inspected the fit-ups for Mattress Warehouse at 11718 Retail Drive; Vanilla Box at 11710

Wake Forest was one of 19 communities to receive an award for excellence in downtown revitalization at the NC Main Street and Small Town Main Street Awards Ceremony on March 14 in Clayton. Wake Forest won in the category of Best Public-Private Partnership in Downtown Revitalization for its Friday Night on White concert series. Deputy Secretary for Rural Economic Development and Workforce Napoleon Wallace and Assistant Secretary of Rural Economic Development Kenny Flowers presented the award to Mayor Vivian Jones, Town Manager Kip Padgett, Downtown Development Director Lisa Hayes, Marketing & Business Relations Specialist Anna Bolton and Dino Radosta, owner of White Street Brewing Co., presenting sponsor of Friday Night on White. The NC Main Street program helps small towns create vibrant central business districts by preserving their historic fabric and building on their unique characteristics using local resources. A panel of judges chose the 2017 award winners from dozens

The Magic Pipers will kick off the third season of Friday Night on White on Friday, April 13. Presented by White Street Brewing Company, the free outdoor concert will take place along South White Street in historic downtown Wake Forest from 6 to 9 p.m. The remaining concerts will feature Love Tribe on May 11, Bull City Syndicate on June 8, Sleeping Booty on July 13, Big Love on Aug. 10, and Crush on Sept. 14. 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 South White Street, and along Owen Avenue. Participating food and dessert trucks are Baguettaboutit, Bam Pow Chow, Charlie’s Kabob Grill, Chirba Chirba Dumpling, Cousins Maine Lobster, Fuzzy’s Empanadas, Havana Dave’s, Kona Ice, Lumpy’s Ice Cream, Sweet Traditions, the VFW Chuckwagon and Virgil’s

There will be some hotly contested seats in the 2018 May 8 party primaries, and Wake County will provide early voting at the Northern Regional Center on East Holding Avenue from April 26 to May 5. There is a lot of competition for the U.S. Congressional seat now held by Rep. George E.B. Holding of Raleigh. Gregory A. Chesser II of Louisburg is contesting him in the Republican primary. On the Democratic side, Wendy E. May of Selma, Kenneth M. Romley of Raleigh and Linda D. Coleman of Knightdale are trying for the party’s nomination. An even more intense primary is shaping up for the District 35 seat in the North Carolina House, and all the candidates live in Wake Forest. Three men are trying to wrest Chris Malone’s seat from him: Adam B. Wright, Terence J. Everitt and Isaac C. Burke. Wake Forest Democratic voters will also be able

The Wake Forest Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department and Richland Creek Community Church will sponsor a free Special Needs Resource Fair on Saturday, April 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Richland Creek Community Church, 3229 Burlington Mills Road. The event will include over 30 professional vendors that specialize in providing to children and adults with special needs an array of services including therapeutic, health and wellness, educational, recreational, music, financial and legal. Designed to offer local families the opportunity to learn about dozens of programs, services, products and resources – all in one location – the fair will also feature interactive opportunities with the Wake Forest Police and Fire Departments and Wake County EMS. The first 100 people to enter the resource fair will receive a ticket for a free treat. For more information, contact Special Needs Recreation Specialist Kelly Schurtz at 919-556-7093 or kschurtz@wakeforestnc.gov.    

The Wake Forest Memorial Flag-Raising Ceremonies will resume Monday, April 2, at 11 a.m. in Centennial Plaza on South Brooks Street The April 2 service will honor James Walter Crawford, who served his nation in the U.S. Army during World War II. Members of Crawford’s family will 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 by the Wake Forest Fire Department Honor Guard, the U.S. Army service flag will be raised in recognition of the military branch in which Crawford served. Both flags will fly in Centennial Plaza throughout April. Photographs and other remembrances of Crawford will also be displayed in Centennial Plaza during the ceremony, then in the Town Hall lobby through the end of the month. Presented by several local veterans’ organizations to honor the sacrifices of deceased Wake Forest