On March 3, 2024 women who are active duty or veterans of the United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast  Guard and National Guard will be honored at a reception hosted by the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 187 of Wake Forest. The Salute begins at 2:30 p.m. at the American Legion Post 187, 225 E. Holding Avenue, across the street from the Wake Forest Post Office. The servicewomen will be greeted by a saber team from the Wake Forest High School JROTC. The event will include entertainment, refreshments, swag bags, door prizes, recognition of your service to the people of the United States and camaraderie with fellow servicewomen. For further information, contact the Auxiliary at unit87alaux@gmail.com or through Facebook at American Legion Auxiliary Unit 187. ###

You’re invited to join Mayor Vivian Jones for the 2024 State of the Town Address & Dinner on Monday, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m. Presented by the Wake Forest Rotary Club, the event will take place at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre, 405 S. Brooks St. During her remarks, Mayor Jones will reflect on the successes and challenges of the Wake Forest community over the past year. She will also outline the goals the Town will strive towards in 2024. Advance tickets are $15 per person and include a catered meal and dinner music by local performing artist Ronald Williams. Tickets can be purchased online with a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover credit card at https://bit.ly/WFStateofTown. Tickets may also be purchased at the Renaissance Centre Box Office with cash, check, or credit card. A limited number of tickets are available, so the event is expected to sell out. Dress for

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

Beginning Tuesday, Jan. 16, Wake Forest crews will repair stormwater outfalls along Town drainage easements in the Margots Pond and Smith Creek subdivisions. Affected residents in those neighborhoods will be notified of the work in advance in-person or via door hanger and presented with a copy of the Town’s encroachment policy. Residents in the affected areas should expect to see white flags in some yards, road work signage along neighborhood streets, and heavy equipment cutting tree limbs and clearing vegetation along the drainage easements. Once work is completed, crews will seed and straw the disturbed areas. For more information, contact Streets Maintenance Manager Joe Medlin at 919-435-9571 or jmedlin@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,

The Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts, 405 S. Brooks St., will present “Mesmerizing Magic” featuring Jason Hudy on Saturday, Jan. 27, at 7:30 p.m. Mystery. Intrigue. Comedy. Bewilderment. These are only a fraction of the qualities Jason Hudy delivers in every performance. Guaranteed to amaze and amuse the entire family, “Mesmerizing Magic” will transport you into the intricate world of magic and illusion. Promising to leave you breathless, this spellbinding one-of-a-kind performance will redefine your idea of what a magic show is! Advance tickets are $25 plus tax and can be purchased online at https://bit.ly/WFRenCenTix, in person at the RC Box Office, or by calling 919-435-9458. For more information, visit www.wakeforestrencen.org/ or call the Renaissance Centre Box Office at 919-435-9458.

Just in time for the holidays, The Town of Wake Forest is again offering “Connections…100 Years of Wake Forest History” for $30 each. Authored by Wake Forest resident and “Wake Forest Gazette” Publisher Carol Pelosi, “Connections… 100 Years of Wake Forest History” was written and released in 2009 to commemorate Wake Forest’s Centennial Celebration. Jean MaCamy and Stephanie Kaeberlein had begun work on the book before they asked me to write it, and they are responsible for the wonderful array of original art and pictures as well as the layout of the pages. A treasure trove of pictures, original artwork, and stories recording the people, places, and events of Wake Forest’s first 100 years, the photo-filled hardcover book chronicles the town’s rich history and details its growth from a small college town to a thriving community of more than 50,000 residents. Connections may be purchased online at www.wakeforestnc.gov/marketplace with credit card or debit card

The Town of Wake Forest is introducing a free education series for residents interested in learning how to reduce their environmental footprint. Offered by Sustainability Coordinator Jeanette Johnson, “Wake Forest Sustainability 101,” is comprised of six classes on topics ranging from composting and recycling to combating litter and creating household food circularity. The sessions got underway Wednesday, Sept. 27, with “Composting 101.” Geared for homeowners and led by a Wake County Master Gardner, the workshop will offer the basics on composting and explain how to compost in your own backyard. Future sessions will include Recycle Right (November 15); Understanding Waste (January 31); Earth Day Education (March 20); Communities Combating Litter (May 22); and Creating Household Food Circularity (July 24). Free and open to the public, each class is scheduled from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Public Works Operations Center, 234 Friendship Chapel Road, or Wake Forest Town Hall, 301 S. Brooks

The Wake Forest Inspections Department issues a monthly report about all new building permits and new businesses. The office issued 26 permits for single-family houses and seven townhouses in various subdivisions in December. Also there were 26 permits for multi-family units, all at two addresses in the Grove development, part of the Wegmans plan, on the north side of the Bypass. Michael Vaughan, an Inspections technician, explained what is being built. “These units are actually ‘2-over-2’ condos but for permitting they are considered multi-family. A 2-over-2 consists of two, two-story townhome style condos stacked to create a four-story building. For permitting, as of December 2023, all 2-over-2 homes will be permitted separately, per unit/address, versus our old style of only permitting the building as a single address.  This is to assist with individual inspections tracking per unit.” There was one new business in December, the Holding Village Amenity Center being

Based on the October, 2023 Monthly Development Report, WF Planning Updated November 29, 202 The updated Wake Forest population as of July 1, 2023 was 56,681. That figure included the new homes which were approved for occupancy. When all the current approved apartments, townhouses and single-family homes are built the population will rise to 69,956. The town keeps a running tally of approved projects with counts of those completed. The best inspections current estimate is that between seven and eight people move to town each day. New plans on the list Item #1 on the list for at least two years has been White Street townhomes SP-21-06 requested by the landowner David Smoot with The Nau Company drawing the plans. The planning board members recommended 7 to 0 it not be approved, and instead the town board sent it back to the planning department and the owner for revisions. Since