The Wake Forest Historical Museum is pleased to host a traveling exhibit created by the North Carolina State Parks and featuring the reproduced paintings of B.W. Wells. Born in Ohio in 1884, Bertram Whittier Wells came to North Carolina in 1919 to lead the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University. Wells devoted his career to the study and preservation of North Carolina’s natural environment. In 1932, he published The Natural Gardens of North Carolina, his most famous work. In 1950, Wells and his wife Maude Barnes Wells retired to a property on the Neuse River in Wake County known as Rockcliff Farm. Inspired by the idyllic setting, Wells taught himself to paint in the 1970s. Many of his paintings feature North Carolina landscapes like Rock Cliff Farm and Zeagle’s Rock, and Wells became well-known for his interesting painting techniques like using pine needles instead of traditional

The Town of Wake Forest is recruiting Adopt-A-Stream volunteers to help keep the town’s streams healthy. The initiative offers residents the opportunity to become involved in an environmental effort that helps protect our natural resources, therefore improving water quality and stream habitats. Anyone with an interest in healthy streams and the outdoors is invited to participate. To adopt a stream, individuals or groups agree to perform one of the following tasks on a section of stream for one year: water quality monitoring; stream clean-up; stream repair and planting; or drain labeling. Water quality monitors make observations and record what they see in their section of stream. Monitors work from a field data sheet and make monthly observations of algae, insect life, stream bank conditions, appearance of water, odors and stream flow. They also collect data using monitoring kits. Stream clean-up participants agree to organize at least two stream clean-ups in

The Town of Wake Forest is accepting applications for the 2020 Citizens Planning Academy through noon on Monday, March 2. The Citizens Planning Academy (CPA) is designed to educate residents of Wake Forest and its extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) about the Town’s planning processes and practices. CPA topics will emphasize public hearings procedures, legislative and quasi-judicial decisions, the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), transportation planning, historic preservation, architectural review and more. Applications must be completed and submitted online by visiting http://bit.ly/WFCitizensPlanningAcademy. Anyone without access to a computer is invited to complete the application by using a computer kiosk in the lobby of Town Hall, 301 S. Brooks St. Only residents of Wake Forest and the Town’s ETJ are eligible to participate. Academy participants will be expected to attend a total of three training sessions over a six-week period from April through May 2020. This year’s sessions are scheduled on the following Mondays: April

The following is a list of how organizations and individuals are working to assure people in and near Wake Forest have food on their table or have a place to get a meal. ** How you can help this month You can volunteer to help the Northern Community Food Security Team, the Society of St. Andrew and a network of Wake County partners for the 2020 Wake Forest Potato Drop. It happens at 8:50 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 29, in the parking lot of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, 520 West Holding Avenue, with a brief welcome and prayer followed by the bagging of a mountain of potatoes. Bagging potatoes – 40,000 pounds that will go to local food banks – is dirty work so wear washable clothing and bring work gloves. Everything should be bagged and all the leftover waste and dirt should be cleaned up by 10:30.

People of all ages can get free help with filing their federal and state tax returns and electronic filing at the senior centers in Franklinton and Louisburg. And, after the Northern Wake Senior Center opens in February, that free help will be available there. The free help is provided by the AARP Foundation, which was formed over 50 years ago to help anyone seeking professional income tax assistance. Counselors are qualified by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and offer this assistance after successfully completing a through written examination and proficiency testing. Individual income tax returns are being prepared at the Franklinton Senior Center, 206 East Mason Street, Franklinton every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and at the Louisburg Senior Center, 127 Shannon Village Shopping Center, Louisburg, Monday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting Feb 2, through April 15, 2020. If you desire assistance please call

Updated February 19, 2020 Future projects–Technical Review Committee The Technical Review Committee met on Jan. 2 and reviewed the following: *Devon Square Construction drawings submitted by Stewart proposing 126 detached single-family residential lots and 152 townhouses on about 44 acres. *Janko Minor master plan submitted by Taylor Blakely to add a second 5,050-square-foot building used for major repair and body work at 9912 Capital Boulevard on about 1.14 acres. The property is zones highway business. *Merritt Unicon Industrial Park Minot site master plan submitted by WithersRavenel for a 452,500-square-foot industrial/flex park and major subdivision creating four lots. The parcel is zoned light industrial. The Technical Committee met on Jan. 30 to review the following: *Town of Wake Forest Smith Creek Greenway Phase 2 Master plan submitted by Stewart proposing 1.38 miles public greenway. *Town of Wake Forest Smith Creek Greenway Phase 3 Master plan submitted by Stewart proposing 1.17 miles

*The Wake Forest Farmers Market will be open from 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday, Feb. 29, 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 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every