Once again the Mad Hatter’s Tea & Garden Party will return to North Main Street and the Wake Forest Historical Museum with its traditional afternoon tea, garden and historic tours, a classic car show and sales of locally grown plants. The date is Saturday, May 12, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. You will only need tickets for the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, three separate seatings from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., where you will be delighted by the fine silver, English tea, finger sandwiches and sweets. The $20 tickets are available on line at www.wfgardenclub.org or Facebook at Wake Forest Garden Club. You can also purchase tickets at The Cotton Company, Ollie’s Café and Page 158 Books. On the day of the party, you can also buy tickets at the Wake Forest Garden Club tent for $25 as long as they are available. All the other events and activities

For decades during the mid-1900s dairies were a staple part of the Wake County landscape and the Pine State truck collecting milk was a familiar sight. Those dairy farms and the men and women who owned and worked on them will be remembered Sunday, April 29, in a program hosted by the Wake Forest Historical Association in the Wake Forest Historical Museum on North Main Street. The free program will run from 3 to 5 p.m. and there will be refreshments, including ice cream from NC State’s Howlin’ Cow ice cream store.

A third phase of the downtown South White Street streetscape will improve the area from East Holding Avenue to Elm Avenue and East Owen Avenue from South White Street to Brooks Street. You can see the conceptual design plan at a meeting Tuesday, May 8, from 4:30 to 6:30 in the Renaissance Center Arts Annex at 407 Brooks Street. The meeting will be informal with an open house format; Residents may drop in any time between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. There will be no formal presentation but Wake Forest officials will be on hand to answer questions and listen to comments about the project. The opportunity to submit written comments will also be provided at the meeting or online via the “Contact Us” form on the Town’s website at www.wakeforestnc.gov/contactus.aspx. All comments received will be taken into consideration as the project develops. For more information, visit www.wakeforestnc.gov/downtown-improvements-phase-3.aspx or contact Assistant to the Town

During Wake Forest’s best spring time, after the pollen and before the blistering heat, is a wonderful time to be outdoors. Enjoy it even more every Thursday during May when the town recreation department sponsors the delightful Music at Midday concerts in Centennial Plaza in front of the Wake Forest Town Hall on Brooks Street. The free concert series gives everyone a change to eat lunch outdoors – a bagged lunch from home or something from a nearby restaurant – while enjoying different musical artists each week. Each concert runs from noon to 1 p.m. This year the musicians are Honey Magpie on May 10; the Freddy Greene Trio on May 17; DRL Band on May 24; and Big Bang Boom on May 31. Assorted dessert trucks will be onsite for each concert selling desserts and sweet treats. The free series is cosponsored by the Wake Forest Parks, Recreation &

From rock and blues to salsa and jazz, there’s something for all music lovers at this year’s Six Sundays in Spring concert series. Sponsored by the Town of Wake Forest and Wake Forest ARTS, the performances get underway Sunday, April 29, at 5 p.m. with The Connells. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2018, Six Sundays in Spring is an annual concert series featuring free, live, outdoor entertainment. Scheduled on consecutive Sundays from April 29 through June 3, Six Sundays in Spring offers area residents an opportunity to enjoy a variety of local and regional performers and an enriching cultural experience. All concerts are scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. in the E. Carroll Joyner Park Amphitheater at 701 Harris Road. In addition to The Connells, other acts scheduled to perform are Capital Transit on May 6; The Spongetones on May 13; Caribe Vibe on May 20; Melissa Reaves on May 27;

What does one do when Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby fall on the same day? Celebrate big during the Wakefield Rotary Cinco de Derby reverse raffle party. On Saturday, May 5, 2018 from 4 to 8 p.m., Wakefield Rotary Club will host a Cinco de Mayo fiesta and Kentucky Derby festival during a single event that will culminate in someone winning $2018. The event will be held at Heritage View Clubhouse, 1037 Marshall Farm Street, in Wake Forest. Proceeds will go toward the club’s new vocational education scholarship for local graduating seniors pursuing a trade. same day,” said Wakefield Rotary President Steve Arrington. “We’re bringing people together for a fun time and at the same time raising money for our club’s new local Vocational Education Scholarship Only 100 Cinco de Derby tickets will be sold. Cost is $100 and admits two people to the event with heavy appetizers and one reverse

The Wake Forest Police Department is inviting area residents to participate in the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics of North Carolina on Saturday, May 12. Online registration is available at www.wakeforestnc.gov/law-enforcement-torch-run.aspx. The registration fee is $30 and includes a 2018 SONC Torch Run T-shirt. On the day of the race, registration and check-in will take place from 8 to 8:45 a.m. at Publix, 1040 Forestville Road. After registering, participants will be transported by shuttle to Walmart, 2114 South Main Street. The 2.3-mile run will begin at 9 a.m. at Walmart and end at Publix. For more information, to purchase a 2018 Law Enforcement Torch Run T-shirt or hat or make a tax-deductible donation, contact Officer J. McArthur at 919-554-6150 or jmcarthur@wakeforestnc.gov.  

During March the Wake Forest Inspections Department issued permits for 73 new homes – 70 single-family houses and three townhouses –and for two self-storage businesses – Bee Smart at 939 Gateway Commons Circle and Cubesmart Self Storagae at 12405 Wake Union Church Road. Bee Smart will be built by Metrolina Builders Inc., and they paid $62,362.48 in fees and will add $1,275,000 to the tax base. Cubesmart will be built by Southeastern Design & Construction which paid $80,425.88 in fees and will add $4,570,000 to the tax base. Backfin’s Crabhouse will be relocating to 1009 Stadium Drive, the Wake Forest Crossing shopping center anchored by Kohl’s. Other new businesses in town include Johnny’s Pizza at 13654 Capital Boulevard (Harris Crossing shopping center), Showmars Restaurant in Wake Forest Crossing shopping center, Tarlton Business (fit-up), Duke Orthopedics & Women’s Center in the new Duke Health building at 3000 Rogers Road, and Lily

The Wake Forest Purple Heart Foundation is asking for community help to cover expenses associated with bringing The Wall That Heals to Wake Forest. A three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Wall That Heals is coming to the Wake Forest Historical Museum at 414 North Main Street in October. It will be on 24-hour display Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 18 through 21. There is no admission charge. Financial support from local businesses and individuals is needed to help cover the cost of bringing the Wall to Wake Forest. Sponsorship levels range from $100 to $7,500 and include an array of benefits. Each sponsorship level is designed to allow sponsors to reach a huge audience as thousands of visitors are expected to visit Wake Forest during the four-day exhibit. Local businesses and individuals can donate via check or online via PayPal at www.wakeforestnc.gov/the-wall-that-heals.aspx. Checks should be made payable to Wake

Update April 25, 2018 Future projects–Technical Review Committee When the technical review committee met on Feb. 15, the members reviewed the following plans: *Capital Sportsplex: A major master site plan submitted by Calyx, a Raleigh engineering firm, for a sports complex on Star Road with a 250,000 square foot building, one multi-use field, five soccer fields, two outdoor tennis courts, six sand volleyball courts and four baseball fields. This will be a quasi-judicial hearing. This is still under review. *Foundation Drive subdivision is a master plan submitted by WithersRavenel for a 34-lot single-family subdivision off Foundation Drive. There are three parcels included in the plan. One runs along Foundation Drive from Forestville Road to a deadend at a creek and an open space owned by the town. The other two are adjacent and tucked in behind the Shoppes at Heritage Village which is anchored by Publix. This is still under