The Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce is excited to present the 2020 Small Business Summit & Resource Fair on Jan. 30 from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre. This event is created to help you start the year with a clear vision. It combines engaging marketing presentations with networking, idea sharing and a resource fair. Keynote speakers are Sloane Heffernan, a two-time Emmy Award winning journalist and reporter at WRAL-TV, and Chisa Pennix Brown, a business coach, community outreach and social media expert with Lady Bizness. Tickets are $20 for Chamber members and $25 for the general public. Go to the chamber website for complete details and to reserve your seat. Sponsorships are also available. * * * * Thanks to you who donated to the Wake Forest Area Chamber Foundation on Giving Tuesday. Your generosity helped us raise nearly $5,000. Special thanks go to

SORRY! At the Dec. 3 town board work session, David Williams, owner of Focus Design Builders which has the $3.9 million contract to renovate and enlarge the building and parking lot, said he it will be another two or three weeks before the Northern Wake Senior Center will be open to the public. See Brief Bits for more. The target completion date was May 1, 2019. Focus Design won the contract because it promised to complete the work within 269 days – nine months – when the other bidders’ numbers were 300 to 365 days. The town board learned on Feb. 5 that the record amount of rain in 2018 – 36 days of rain that prevented construction when the average is 13 – means the end date had to be pushed back. Architect Matt Hale said construction would be complete on June 19 and the building will be handed

The Wake Forest Gazette has been a reliable source of information about the town of Wake Forest since 2003. The free online weekly newspaper is always available at www.wakeforestgazette.com. The Gazette is the only Wake Forest newspaper consistently offering news about the Wake Forest Board of Commissioners and Planning Board, events in town, calendar, obituaries and a list of community organizations and meeting times. There are also articles about town history, opinion from readers and once in a while we even print recipes. The Gazette currently has 1,500 subscribers and 1,500 people who read it without subscribing, reaching a substantial number of area residents. The advertising rate for the Gazette is $100 per month. There are no charges for obituaries or any news. If you want to advertise, please email or call the editor, Carol W. Pelosi, at cwpelosi@aol.com or 919-556-3409. #

*The Wake Forest Farmers Market will be open from 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday, Dec. 14, 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