👋 Good morning, Apex NC! Today is January 30, 2025 and this is the fourth weekly issue of The Peak Weekly.

In less than a month, we have grown from 0 to 1,867 subscribers!

Thank you so much for subscribing and sharing. I appreciate you!

Let’s get to it. Here is what’s inside today:

📂 Miscellaneous: Some quick, random notes that didn’t fit anywhere else

🗓️ Things to Do This Week: Events and activities this coming week in Apex

🏢 Local Business: Updates on business and developments

🚔️ Crime & Safety: A couple of quick reminders to keep Apex safe

🏛️ Civil News: The latest from local government

🐶 Animal of the Week: Featured pet looking for a good home

👀 A Look Ahead: A quick peak at things to know beyond this week

Miscellaneous

📖 February is Black History Month!
Saturday kicks off Black History Month. I got a chance to meet and spend some time with the Founder of Apex’s Juneteenth Festival, TJ Evans, a couple weeks ago and learned quite a bit about the Black history in our town. I will share more of what I learned throughout February. But if you have never heard the story of how Apex’s Friendship community got its start (~200 years before the Civil War), I recommend checking out this virtual community tour. It’s fascinating.

🌀 Two Street Hockey Rinks Coming to Apex
In partnership with the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL’s Industry Growth Fund, Apex Community Park will be getting an outdoor hockey rink and a second multipurpose court which can function as a second hockey rink, futsal court, or basketball court. (🦶I had to Google ‘futsal’, which I learned is: a modified form of soccer played with five players per side on a smaller hardcourt). Construction is now underway and photo renderings can be seen here.

🚰 Are We Drinking a “Likely Human Carcinogen”?
Asheboro, Greensboro and Reidsville are dumping massive amounts of an odorless, colorless industrial solvent known as 1,4-dioxane into the Haw River. The Haw River feeds into Jordan Lake. Apex gets its drinking water from Jordan Lake. Sure, the water gets treated and filtered. But nobody knows if that’s enough. Here are some options to consider.

🏡 Hottest Subdivisions of 2024
The Apex Subdivisions with the highest number of home closings in 2024:

1. Carolina Springs: 200 — average sales price: $499,636

2. Friendship Station: 162 — average sales price: $760,276

3. Depot 499: 92 — average sales price: $481,470

Things to Do This Week in or Near Apex:

Friday, 1/31

⛸️ Skate the Square DJ Night
6:00pm - 9:00pm | Fenton (Cary)

🎭️ Masquerade Ball*
6:00pm - 8:00pm | Apex Senior Center
*This event is specifically designed for participants with developmental and/or physical disabilities. Individuals attending with a personal assistant are welcome.

Saturday, 2/1

🧑‍🌾 Apex Farmers Market
9:00am - 12:00pm | The Depot

🎨 SuperFun Saturday (ages 4-12)
10:30am - 12:30pm | Halle Cultural Arts Center
🎟️ Tickets are required

💗 Galentine’s Party
11:00am - 2:00pm | Rose & Lee Co

🍾 Prohibition Party
5:00pm - 9:00pm | Southern Peak Brewery

Wednesday, 2/5

🎬️ Free Children’s Movie’s (Despicable Me)
10:00am | Holly Springs Cultural Center

🏫 PTA Meeting
5:30pm | Lufkin Road Middle School

🎯 Darts Tournament
6:30pm - 8:30pm | Southern Peak Brewery

🎬️ Wednesday Night Movie
7:30pm - 10:00pm | Halle Cultural Arts

Interested in arts, crafts, track-out camps, or town-organized sports?

 ➡️ Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Program Guide

Local Business News

New Business Opening in Apex

🐸 sweetFrog Premium Frozen Yogurt
Coming soon (date TBD) to Publix Pointe. sweetFrog will be serving up premium frozen yogurt in what used to be Wake Zone Coffee.

🧂 The Spice & Tea Exchange
Add a little spice to your life (date TBD) with fine spices, handcrafted seasonings, loose-leaf teas, salts, sugars, gifts and more. 104A N. Salem Street

🐮 Chic-Fil-A
Almost ready… There’s a sign out in front of the new location at 1001 S. Hughes St. that says, “Opening Feb/March”

✏️ Note About New Businesses: I’m doing my best to be up-to-date on new businesses in Apex. I’ve found it to be more difficult than I thought it would be, though. I reached out to Economic Development to ask for some help. It took several emails to even get a response, and then they told me that they don’t know about new businesses opening either 🤔 and weren’t able to offer any help or direction, and then haven’t responded to me on follow-ups. So, if any of you ever hear about any new businesses, please let me know. We just want to show them some love 🫶 

🛍️ Sweetwater Town Center Updates

There’s a lot coming to Sweetwater. I don’t have an official update for any of it. Their last website update was 1,198 days ago, but here’s the chatter from some folks on Reddit:

• Fratelli’s Delicatessen has been open for a while. People really seem to like it!

• Mi Cancun looks to be the next possible opening (maybe in March)

• Mama Bird’s Ice Cream & Shiki Sushi are coming but still a ways to go

• Ads have been running stating that Taco Bell is now open, but it is not yet

• Coming (someday) to the store fronts next to Harris Teeter along with the Taco Bell: Potbelly, Greek Kouzina, Peace Love & Little Doughnuts, Chun Yang Taiwan Black Tea, Papa John’s, Al’s Burger Shack

• Southern Peak Brewery is going in across from Fratelli’s… someday

Businesses Leaving Apex

🏺 Sawdust & Clay
Located next to Common Grounds at 219 N Salem, Sawdust & Clay closes at the end of the month.

Business Spotlights

A few local businesses that me and my daughter thought deserve a shout-out:

👩‍🎨 Rachel Writes NC
Rachel Castaneda is an Apex-based artist specializing in murals and logo painting. Her work absolutely blows me away. You’ve probably seen her work around town and in many local businesses. Check out her website and Instagram

🍝 Turkish Coffee Lady
Owner, Gizem Salcigil White, is an award-winning social coffee entrepreneur and philanthropist. Turkish Coffee Lady, which has a 5.0 star rating on Google from 126 reviews, is an authentic specialty coffee business continuing a 500-year old tradition of bringing people together one coffee at a time. Located in Olive Chapel Professional Park. View the menu and follow along on Instagram.

🏆️ Reece’s Recommendations
Places you should check out according to my 14-year-old daughter:

Crime & Safety

This is a new section this week. And I don’t intend on it being a recurring section (hopefully). But I think there are a few topics to discuss around crime & safety this week.

👮‍♂️ New Police Chief
Apex’s new Chief of Police, Ryan Johansen, will begin his role on Monday. Chief Johansen comes to us from the San Bruno (CA) Police Department.

⛽️ Circle K
Last Thursday, there was an armed robbery at the Circle K at 705 E Williams. Unclear if they have been found and/or if they are the same ones involved in the Walmart incident. Apex PD shared an Alert on Nextdoor asking for help identifying the suspects.

🛒 Walmart
On Tuesday, Apex PD apprehended two suspects for suspected larceny (or robbery; it’s unclear) at Walmart. From their Facebook post, it sounds like one was apprehended right away, while a brief manhunt took place for the other possibly armed individual who was then apprehended by McDonald’s.

🔒️ It’s the Top Left Button on Your Remote
Apex PD posted on Tuesday that within 24 hours, 8 vehicles were broken into and 6 firearms were stolen from those vehicles. 7 of those vehicles were unlocked. The one that was locked had their firearms sitting in plain site. Also, this isn’t isolated to just that 24 hour period. I’ve heard about quite a few, including stolen cars, in my own neighborhood over the last couple of months. Lock your car doors!!

🖥️ So… What Happened to the APD Crime Portal?
In my opinion, while uncommon in Apex, any major crime incident is mostly reported on by the community. The Circle K Robbery, for example - those 2 guys got away. Is a Nextdoor Alert sufficient notification? Have they been caught, or are they still out there? This is a question someone asked 4 days ago on that Nextdoor post, but APD hasn’t responded.

 ✏️ Note About the Portal: Back in 2020, the Town launched the Police 2 Citizen portal which provided daily incident, arrest, and accident reports. I noticed recently that this portal is no longer accessible.

I reached out to the Town and was told that it was compromised in the July 2, 2024 cybersecurity incident and that there was no timeline on when it would be restored.

I spoke to Town Manager, Randy Vosburg, about this and brought up my concerns. Having this portal creates transparency, limits the speculation around crime incidents, and some studies even show that these portals reduce crime rates. I never heard about this being compromised in the cybersecurity incident, nor could I find anything online about it.

He has been tracking down more information from the various departments and I’ll share any information with you all as I learn more.

Civil News

👨‍💻 Cybersecurity Incident Updates

• 🔌 Utility Bill Review Firm
  Last Thursday, the Town shared a short video update. This update states that the review firm, BerryDunn, spent time getting up to speed and will soon be running billing simulations to determine any discrepancies in how people were billed.

• 💲 What it Will Cost
  I reached out to Randy asking the total cost of this analysis/audit and how the cost will be absorbed. He informed me, “The amount is roughly $63,000 and we will split the costs between the Water-Sewer Fund and Electric Fund. It will either be covered by reserves or the contingency we have budgeted in each fund.”

🌳 Environmental Education Center
This project includes the design and development of a 7,000+ square foot facility at the Nature Park. This design will focus on providing space for nature and environmental education, connecting with the shelter and restroom, and supporting amphitheater programming. “Visioning Sessions” are starting soon and the contract will likely be bid later this year.

⏪️ Last Week’s Finance Committee Meeting
On 1/23, the Town shared a report/presentation from the financial consultants working on the debt model and adopted a few recommendations which now go to the full Council. The details are available in Terry’s Facebook post.

📄 Budget Priorities Survey (Last Chance!)
As the Town of Apex prepares its next annual budget, they are asking for the town’s input on how your tax dollars should be spent. Complete the 10-minute survey by Monday, February 3.

🗓️ Important Upcoming Dates

Thursday, January 30, 2025
4:30pm | Town Hall
Personnel Committee Meeting

The above meeting was canceled on 1/28 and there are no other Town meetings on the schedule for this week.

Animal of the Week

Callie is a 7-year-old female Boxer looking for her forever home. You can adopt Callie, among other pups looking for forever homes at Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue

Truffula is a 4-month-old male orange tabby. He is currently at the Beaver Creek PetSmart. You can apply to adopt at PetSmart or online at Paw Prints Animal Rescue. (We adopted our cat, Pepper, from Paw Prints - they are awesome).

#adoptdontshop

A Look Ahead

February 6, 2025
She Means Business - Small Group
4:00pm - 5:30pm | Anna’s Pizzeria

February 7, 2025
Opening Reception - Egg in the Nest: Wild at Heart
6:00pm - 8:00pm | Halle Cultural Arts Center

February 7, 2025
State of the Town
8:00am - 10:00am | Halle Cultural Arts Center

February 8, 2025
Chill with a Cop
6:30pm - 8:30pm | Bruster’s Real Ice Cream

February 10, 2025
Planning Board Meeting
4:30pm | Town Hall

February 11, 2025
Regular Town Council Meeting
6:00pm | Town Hall

February 15, 2025
Black History Month - Spades Tournament
11:00am - 2:00pm | Apex Senior Center

February 22, 2025
Black History Month - Hip Hop Workshop
12:00pm - 2:00pm | Apex Senior Center

February 22, 2025
The Apex Gala
6:00pm - 10:00pm | MacGregor Downs Country Club

“Welcome to the 2025 Apex Gala! Join us for an unforgettable night at MacGregor Downs Country Club in Cary, NC. Get ready to indulge in delicious food, open bar, dance the night away, and make memories that will last a lifetime. All proceeds will benefit Peak Beginnings”

February 24 - March 2
Apex Restaurant Week 2025
“This week-long celebration highlights the incredible culinary offerings in Apex.

During Apex Restaurant Week, guests can enjoy fixed-price menus for lunch or dinner. The 3-course dinner menu is just $30 plus tax and tip at participating restaurants, while some locations offer lunch specials for just $15 plus tax and tip. (List of participating restaurants will be released mid-February and we will share it with you!)”

A Final Note

Thank you for reading The Peak Weekly today.

And thank you to everyone who has reached out with the kind words of support and encouragement.

My goal when starting this newsletter was to compile all of the information about Apex each week into an easy-to-digest email. That has evolved a bit into leaning on the Town for some assistance. I’ll be honest… I’ve had some success with that in areas. And I’ve definitely faced some resistance in others that I maybe didn’t expect. But we’ll keep trying to bring you the best info that we can every Thursday at 6am! Learning as I go, so bear with me 😄 

If you have any feedback, ideas, or any other thoughts on how to make this newsletter better, please reply to this email or email me directly at [email protected]

See you next Thursday. 😘