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Last week the co-chairs of the Wake
Forest Centennial Committee, Frank and
Carol Smith, met with members of Project
Preserve Our Past to discuss the
progress thus far in planning events for
2009.
Four major events are
planned, the Smiths said: a town-wide
birthday celebration on Feb. 9 in large
space, perhaps a school gym; one of the
Six Sundays in Spring when musicians and
singers perform music from the turn of
the 20th Century; an event
during the Fourth of July celebration;
and a holiday event in December,
hopefully in the new town hall.
Project Preserve Our Past,
headed by Suzanne Mills Erskine and
Stella Forrest Daniska, seeks to collect
mementos, oral histories and memorabilia
about the town’s history for inclusion
in the future museum annex behind the
Wake Forest Birthplace.
Ed Morris, the executive
director for the birthplace, said the
museum annex may open in 2009. “”We’ll
know if we can start construction by the
end of the year.”
Town Clerk Joyce Wilson MMC
has suggested the town host something
similar to First Night on Dec. 31, 2008,
to begin the centennial year. Since
First Night is a copyrighted name, the
event could be called First Light. First
Night in Raleigh, Carol Smith said, “is
a major, major project,” but a smaller
version for Wake Forest is still a
possibility.
Several suggestions about a
written history or a date book were
made, and Beverly Whisnant has since
begun collecting a listing of events in
the United States and around the world
during 1909.
Whisnant also suggested the
Centennial Committee work with the Wake
Forest Kiwanis Club on events. “There
are people there young enough to have
muscles.”
The Wake Forest Historic
Preservation Commission has commissioned
a new booklet for a walking tour of the
North Main Street historic district with
pictures of all the homes and short
descriptions. It should be ready in 2008
in time for the centennial.
Carol Smith said they want
to work with other groups to tie in
other events with the centennial.
Bobby Baxter is developing a
centennial daylily and another gardener
may produce the Wake Forest centennial
rose.
One of the suggestions for
the Fourth of July was dinner on the
grounds at Joyner Park in the afternoon
after Art in the Park and Games in the
Park. Families would be invited to bring
picnic dinners to the park. One
suggestion for the games was a really
big cake for the cakewalk.
Both the town and Wake
County will contribute money toward the
centennial. Smith said they need to have
information from the subcommittees
working on the major events before they
know how much will be needed and how
much to ask for.
The Centennial Committee
meets the second Monday at 5:15 p.m. in
town hall. Project Preserve Our Past
meets the fourth Thursday at noon in the
Calvin Jones House. |
