During the Wake Forest Town Board’s work session Tuesday, Jan. 2, the new commissioners — Faith Cross and Ben Clapsaddle — and old — Keith Shackleford, Nick Sliwinski and Adam Wright — learned there is a lot more to signage than one would think. In July 2022, the town contracted with MERJE Design to develop a comprehensive wayfinding program, and now John Bosio explained what the firm has done during 2022 and 2023 and what will happen in 2024. They have the gateway designs as well as designs for the smaller entrances to Wake Forest, where no sign tells you when you enter the town limits. They have signs that tell you how to get to the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce while you are on South Main Street or Elm Avenue. Where is Joyner Park? There is a sign for that as well as other landmarks in town.

The Town of Wake Forest is encouraging residents to make recycling a holiday tradition by recycling their live Christmas trees. Beginning Tuesday, Jan. 2, Town crews will collect and recycle live Christmas trees from residential homes during yard waste collection. The trees will be ground into mulch and made available for free to residents upon request. All Wake Forest residents whose yard waste is collected by the Town may participate in the “Treecycling” program. To recycle your Christmas tree, remove all decorations, tinsel, nails, stands, and bags from the tree and set it behind the curb for collection. Residents are reminded that artificial trees cannot be recycled. For more information, email the Public Works Department at publicworksdept@wakeforestnc.gov. ###

The Wake Forest Renaissance Centre, 405 S. Brooks St., will host the 2024 Wake Forest Film Festival on Friday and Saturday, March 1-2. Tickets to the two-day event are $20 and can be purchased online at https://bit.ly/WFRenCenTix, in person at the RC Box Office, or by calling 919-435-9458. Earlier this year, the Renaissance Centre invited filmmakers from our community and around the world to submit their vibrant, diverse, and original works and become a part of the 2024 film festival. Altogether, 81 films were submitted for consideration and 18 were selected to be featured during this year’s event. The complete schedule, including movie titles and times will be announced in the coming days and provided at http://bit.ly/WFFilmFestival. The two-day festival will spotlight passionate, creative, and thought-provoking movies by some of today’s most promising and accomplished local, national, and international filmmakers. Intended for filmmakers, film enthusiasts, and anyone who enjoys a good story,

Several local churches and community organizations will honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during a free, public celebration on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. at Friendship Chapel Baptist Church, 237 Friendship Chapel Road. The evening’s theme will center around one of Dr. King’s messages: “Be the peace you wish to see in the world.” In the spirit of the event theme, the Wake Forest MLK Committee will offer creative performance, writing, and art competitions for students in Wake Forest and Rolesville-area schools. Complete contest rules and information, along with the online contest entry form, are available at http://bit.ly/WFMLKCelebration. The competition winners will be recognized during the January 18 program. The keynote speaker will be the Rev. Sarah Phelps, the pastor at St. John Episcopal Church in Wake Forest. The Wake Forest MLK Committee is accepting monetary donations from the community to help fund the

The Town of Wake Forest has partnered with ClearGov, a leading municipal transparency and benchmarking platform, to launch an infographic-based Open Data Portal. Accessible from the “Government” drop-down menu on the Town website and under “Common Resources” on the website homepage, this new tool offers residents an easy-to-understand, visual breakdown of Wake Forest’s finances, as well as insights into the Town’s demographics. The site also provides performance data from several Town departments, including Fire, Police, Planning, Inspections, Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources, Downtown Development, Public Works, and Downtown Development. Town staff will continue to gather information for release to the Open Data portal as an ongoing process to make data more easily accessible and encourage residents to become more familiar with how their government is performing. Wake Forest is part of a growing number of North Carolina municipalities that are taking transparency to a new level on the ClearGov platform, which