March 29, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

                        Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player on a major league team, the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was called up from a Dodgers’ farm team in 1947 and went on to earn two major honors in 1949, as batting champion with a record of .342 and as the most valuable player.

            Wiley, who graduated from Catawba College in Salisbury and earned a masters of fine arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has performed his play for hundreds of schools, colleges and arts centers around the country.

            The performance is sponsored by the Wake Forest Parks and Recreation Department and United Arts of Raleigh and Wake County. For more information, call Susan Simpson at 554-6182.

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            The Wake Forest Farmers Market will begin its fifth year on Saturday, April 8, and again will be located in the South White Street gazebo parking lot.

            Ten or 11 vendors will be on hand that first weekend, selling a variety of home-grown, home-made, organic and fresh vegetables, meats, eggs, garlic, breads and other good things like flowers and pottery. The sponsors expect as many as 22 vendors to crowd into the parking lot later this spring and summer.

            The market is open from 8 a.m. to noon.

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            The sixth annual Wake Forest HerbFest is planned for the weekend of April 21-23 in the gazebo parking lot and is sponsored by The Cotton Company and the Downtown Revitalization Corporation.

            Herb lovers and gardeners will be able to choose from more than 10,000 herbs and 5,000 perennial plants.

            This year the founders, Bob and Elizabeth Johnson, will honor the memory of their son, Graham, by donating a portion of the proceeds to the Graham Johnson Memorial Scholarship Fund at Franklin Academy. Many of Graham’s classmates at the school will help with the duck walk and other aspects of the three-day show.

            Local vendors and those from around the South will sell garden art in clay, metal and mixed media as well as herbal-based products: soaps, lotions and herb-based foods. Joe Dumas from Alabama will sell his original art.

            The show will be open Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. To learn more, go to http://www.thecottoncompany.net.

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            During March, the Cotton Company is featuring the work of several artists who are Mary Benejam O’Connell’s advanced students. They are Linda Tharin, Blake Tharin, Mary Margaret Steele, Mike O’Conell (Mary Benejam’s husband), Larry Harrison, Ann Battle, Carolyn Clark, Elyzabeth Newhouse and Peter Firth. Mary Benejam O’Connell is an accomplished oil and watercolor artists who has taught for 15 years, most recently for three years in this area. She offers a variety of classes through the Wake Forest Parks and Recreation Department.

            During April the featured artist at the Cotton Company will be Louisburg artist Jerry Fox Law, and an artist reception and wine-tasting will be held Friday, April 14, from 6 to 9 p.m. That evening is also Second Friday/Art After Hours, and several studios and shops will be open until 9.

            Jerry Law is an award-winning interior designer and has enjoyed painting as a relaxing pastime for the last 20 years. She attended the University of Virginia Commonwealth, which has named her one of the 100 Most Notable Alumni in the School of Art.

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            One of Wake Forest’s more enjoyable events, Six Sundays in Spring, will kick off Sunday, April 23, at 5 p.m. on the lawn at the Wake Forest College Birthplace on North Main Street and continue through May 28. Once again everyone is invited to bring a blanket or lawn chairs, a picnic, Frisbees and balloons to enjoy the music and meet friends. The roster of musicians will be announced soon.

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            Meet in the Street, Wake Forest’s outdoor crafts festival, is planned for Saturday, May 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. along two blocks of White Street.

            Paul Miller’s Flow Circus leads the roster of performances backed by several local performing groups. The deadline to apply as a performing group is March 31, and you can find the application online at www.wakeforestchamber.org. The deadline for vendor was March 20.

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            An arts and crafts show is planned at The Factory on South Main Street the weekend of April 22 and 23. Call Antoinette at 570-1510 to rent a spot at $30 for one day, $50 for two.