The Seafood Shack, a locally-owned Calabash-style restaurant, will open Friday at the southern end of the Renaissance Plaza where owner Craig Briner is tearing up the parking lot to give the old shopping center more of a new look.
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          The Wake Forest commissioners will welcome a new town clerk on May 19. Town Manager Mark Williams said Deeda Harris has been selected and will begin work Tuesday, May 26. She will be introduced at the May 19 board meeting. “She’s local, grew up in Wake Forest,” Williams said.
          Harris current works for Campbell University’s office in RTP, where she has been for eight years. She has not been a town clerk.
          Longtime Town Clerk Joyce Wilson MMC retired at the beginning of April after 23 years with the town.
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          ECON finished up the work on the South White Streetscape in a flash. Observers were amazed at how quickly they could excavate, lower the profile, fix a waterline leak, install base and paving for the one block between Roosevelt and Wait avenues.
          But there are a couple little items, just as in any home improvement job. Commissioner Margaret Stinnett asked if there were going to be bicycle stands, given the town’s dedication to providing places for residents to walk or bike. Yes, Assistant Engineer Holly Spring said, there will be three or four in the current project and they should be installed before Friday.
          Then Commissioner Peter Thibodeau asked about the holes on the new sidewalks where it is evident there will be railings. Those were delayed, Spring said, because of the grade change along South White in front of Wake Forest Yoga and other stores. It made a difference in how they were built. “We had to delay fabrication,” she said, but now they will be installed in two to three weeks.
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          Also on the downtown beat, the J. Seward Johnson sculpture, “Yum Yum,” a young girl perched on a column enjoying a treat, has been installed next to the gazebo parking lot. It is on loan for a year from The Sculpture Foundation in Santa Monica, Calif., and came to Wake Forest through the efforts of the Elizabeth Johnson with the Graham Johnson Cultural Arts Endowment and Susan Neeley and Drew Bridges with The Storytellers Bookstore.
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       Just a reminder: The filing for town board seats begins Tuesday, July 7, (it would begin Monday, July 6, but many public offices will be closed for the Fourth of July holiday) and ends Friday, July 17. The terms for Mayor Vivian Jones and Commissioners Frank Drake and Margaret Stinnett end this year. Jones has indicated she plans to run again, Drake is undecided and Stinnett probably will run. Filing can only be done at the Wake County Board of Elections office in Raleigh. The filing fee for the office of mayor is $50, $15 for commissioners.
          The Gazette editor would appreciate hearing from any possible candidates. If there is no firm information, a rumor would be acceptable.