To honor the 30th anniversary of Wake Forest Downtown Inc., four of the founding board members will be the grand marshals for this year’s Wake Forest Christmas Parade Saturday.
The organization began in 1985 as the Wake Forest Downtown Revitalization Corporation after a group of local business people, merchants and politicians met at the home of the then-mayor, John Lyon, and discussed how a small town with about 6,500 residents could revitalize its lackluster downtown economy. The downtown had never recovered after Wake Forest College and its thousands of students moved to Winston-Salem in 1956. The DRC grew out of that discussion, and by the following year it was able to hire its first staff person.
The 2015 marshals are Lyon, John Rich, James Warren and Blanche McPhatter. They will be honored at a lunch and will ride on the WFD float. Thomas Byrne, a Wake Forest College graduate and a famous New York Yankees pitcher, chose to retire in Wake Forest in 1957 and later became a town commissioner and mayor. He was a founding DRC board member and died in 2007.
All past DRC and WFD board members are invited to also ride on the float. They can email Downtown Development Director Lisa Hayes, lisa@wakeforestdowntown.com, or meet at 12:30 p.m. at the parade float lineup area on South White Street.
The DRC’s name was changed in 2013 to Wake Forest Downtown Inc. to better reflect its mission of fostering the health and vitality of the historic downtown area. Today, with the support of the Town of Wake Forest, a dedicated group of volunteers continues its work to promote downtown through events such as Beach Night on White, Art After Hours, Dirt Day and the Classic Car Show. Beginning in the spring, WFD will host free Friday Night on White concerts during the 2nd Friday of each month.
For more information about WFD, visit www.WakeForestDowntown.com
