For four Thursdays in May, area residents can take their lunches to Centennial Plaza in front of the Wake Forest Town Hall and enjoy great music from noon to 1 p.m. It’s the spring season music series, Music at Midday. The series will run from May 9 – after the pine pollen season – until May 30 – after which it is often too hot and steamy to enjoy an outdoor lunch. The musicians this year are Big Bang Boom on May 9, Into the Fog on May 16, Kristi Dixon on May 23 and the Freddy Greene Trio on May 30. Lumpy’s Ice Cream will be on site selling desserts and sweet treats during each concert. The music series is sponsored by the Wake Forest Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Department and ARTS Wake Forest.

The Wake Forest Cemetery Advisory Board will sponsor its annual historic walking tour at the Wake Forest Cemetery on Saturday, May 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The cemetery is located at 400 North White Street. Free and open to the public, the self-guided tour will celebrate the lives of the men and women who established the Wake Forest community, as well as its culture and destiny. Docents will be stationed at various locations throughout the cemetery to share interesting stories about specific gravesites, as well as photographs of loved ones bearing their ancestral names. Parents are encouraged to bring their children to the tour as a special handout will be provided highlighting interesting points of interest throughout the cemetery grounds. Designed to promote healthy interaction between a child and their parents or accompanying adult, the photos and sites highlighted in the handout will help educate visitors about the

One of the highlights of the spring season in Wake Forest is the Wake Forest Garden Club’s annual Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and Garden and Art Tour in the Wake Forest Historical Museum, on its grounds and in local gardens. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, May 11, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the high tea, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the garden and art tour. You can buy tickets for both or for just one. The tea will be served in the museum, first come – first served, and many of the guests will be wearing their finest hats and gloves. The garden and art tour will feature local gardens selected for their unique and creative displays where local plein-air artists will be demonstrating how they create. On the grounds there will be other attractions. The vintage car show features classic cars owned

The Town of Wake Forest will host a Comprehensive Transportation Plan public information meeting on Thursday, May 16, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre, 405 South Brooks Street. The meeting will have an informal, open house-style format, so there will not be a formal presentation. Attendees may arrive any time between 4 and 7 p.m. to share comments and ask questions. During the session, organizers will review ideas and opinions shared during the first CTP public meeting on topics such as safety, intersections, roadway congestion, technology, driving, walking, biking and transit. Light refreshments, along with soft drinks and water, will be available. Community input is the cornerstone of the Comprehensive Transportation Plan, which will address all modes of transportation, including driving, walking, biking and transit. For more information, visit wakeforestnc.gov and search “Comprehensive Transportation Plan” or contact Transportation Planning Manager Suzette Morales at 919-435-9510 or smorales@wakeforestnc.gov<mailto:smorales@wakeforestnc.gov>.

Runners and walkers are invited to register for the annual Embrace Uganda 5K coming up Saturday, June 1, in downtown Wake Forest, 7:30-11 a.m. Sign up to run or walk at www.EmbraceUganda.org. Your registration and donations help provide clean water, medical care and education to some of the 2.3 million orphaned children in Uganda. All participants receive an event T-shirt and free participation in the JerryCan Challenge, which replicates a Ugandan child’s daily trek just to find clean water. The 5K begins and ends at Town Hall on Taylor Street. Race timing is by Young & Associates, and the course is USATF certified Sponsors are also needed; promote your business at this worthy cause by calling 919-760-3520.

“Southern Soul” performing artist Rissi Palmer will take to the stage at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts Saturday, May 11, at 7:30 p.m. Advance tickets are on sale for $15 (plus tax) and can be purchased online with a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover credit card at www.wakeforestrencen.org/tickets-events<http://www.wakeforestrencen.org/tickets-events>. Advance tickets may also be purchased with cash, check or credit card at the Renaissance Centre Box Office, 405 Brooks Street. On the day of the concert tickets can be purchased at the door for $18 (plus tax). A processing fee will be added to the cost of any ticket purchased with a credit card. Palmer, who describes her musical style as “Southern Soul,” has received widespread media attention in national publications including Ebony, Parade, People, Newsweek, Huffington Post, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal and more. She has performed on the CBS Early Show, CNN, The Tavis Smiley

Help shape tomorrow’s workforce! Get an extra pair of hands to help with a project! We are looking for businesses to provide internships as part of the Wake Forest Chamber Foundation’s Career Readiness Academy this fall. While all types of businesses are encouraged to offer an internship, top categories needed include law, engineering, physical therapy, medical fields, and graphic design. Internships can be unpaid or paid. Info sessions will be held at the Chamber office on Tuesday, May 14, from 9:00 to  10:30 am, as well as at Wake Electric Membership Corp., 100 S. Franklin Street, on Tuesday, June 4 and Tuesday, June 18 from 9:00 to 10:30 am. Register for an information session by emailing wfcareerreadinessacademy@gmail.com or visit them online at wfcra.org. * * * *     Join us this Friday, May 10, at 8:30 am at the Wake Forest Historical Museum for the next Women’s Business Alliance meeting, sponsored by

The editor knows there are many readers who do not subscribe to The Wake Forest Gazette and is urging those people to subscribe. There is no charge, but you do get a weekly notice from the editor each Wednesday announcing a weekly update is on line. All you have to do is go to the first page, find the box for subscribe and enter your name and email address. If you have been a subscriber to the Gazette and 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

*The Wake Forest Farmers Market will be open from 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday, May 11, in the employee parking lot along South Taylor Street behind Wake Forest Town Hall. Local farmers and artisans will have meats, seasonal vegetables, bread, baked good and other local wares for sale. See the market’s Facebook page for information about the vendors and sign up for a weekly notice about the offerings that Saturday. Remember the Wake Forest Farmers Market is unusual in that it is owned by the farmers who sell their wares there. *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. every Monday night. All profits support the club’s projects for children. Visit www.wakeforestbingo.com for more information. *Tri-Area Ministry Food Pantry at 149 East Holding Avenue is now open from 9 to 11 a.m. every third