Halloween & Pit Bulls

👋 Good morning, Apex! Today is Thursday, October 2, 2025 and this is the 39th weekly issue of The Peak Weekly.

It’s been a long work week. It’s pushing 1am right now as I wrap this up and schedule it for 6:09am. Fair warning: I did not proof-read this. If you find any typos or broken links, I’m sorry 😭 

Now, let’s take a moment to fill your calendar with some of the awesome upcoming Halloween-inspired Town events this month:

October 9 | 5:30pm-7:30pm
🍫 Explore S’more | Nature Park Amphitheater

October 11 - 31 | Nightly 6pm-9pm
🏠️ Tour of Frights | Map Coming Soon

October 11 | 12pm-7pm
🎃 Apex Oktoberfest | Town Campus

October 17 | 6pm-8pm
🍿 PJs & Popcorn Movie Night | Senior Center

October 23 - 31 | Park Hours
🌾 Scarecrow Row | Apex Community Park

October 24 | 5pm-9pm
🧙🏻‍♀️ Witches Night Out | Salem Street

October 25 | 5pm-7pm
🧌 Goblin’s Groove | Halle Cultural Arts

October 29 | 5pm-7pm
👻🐕 Spooky Tails | Apex Nature Park

Miscellaneous:

🎂 Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to my amazing daughter and son (twins), Reece & Ryland, who turn 15 tomorrow! Despite the cake emoji, both have declined a birthday cake and have instead opted for birthday brownies and birthday banana bread 🤷‍♂️ 

🕺 Apex Community Dance
Family-friendly community dances led by local callers and live musicians. Featuring easy dances from Southern American Square dancing, English Country, and New England Contra Dance. No experience is needed—dances are taught and walked through. All ages and abilities are welcome! Tickets on sale now.

🎷 Heroes and Hope
This Friday, October 10, the Cary Town Band (with several Apex residents as players) are putting on a free concert at the Cary Arts Center at 7:30pm. The theme is Heroes and Hope and will include various solists as “heroes” (including one from Apex) as well as terrific triumphant and hopeful traditional band music.

🧑‍🚒 Fire vs. Fire
Mark your calendars for October 18. From 9am - 2pm, Firefighters from Apex, Holly Springs, Cary and Morrisville will go head to head in a CrossFit-style challenge to see who is the strongest, fastest and fittest to serve. Go root on AFD. It’ll take place at Apex Fire Station 1.

👩‍🏫 Send This to A Teacher
Each year, the Apex Public School Foundation offers teachers the opportunity to apply for grants that support innovative and creative educational programs, technology and equipment in Apex-area WCPSS schools. The deadline for this year’s Grant Applications is October 15. Send this link to a teacher. Matter fact, send them this whole newsletter :)

⚠️ A Longer Harris Plant Siren Test
Next Wednesday, October 8, Duke Energy will be doing its quarterly siren test at the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant. Most tests last from 5-30 seconds. Next week’s test, however, will last about 3 minutes.

🗳️ Early Voting
For the 3 open Apex Town Council seats, early voting begins Saturday, October 26 and ends Saturday, November 1 at the John M. Brown Community Center.

🏌️ SAS Championship
If you are a long-time golf lover, come see some fan favorites at the SAS Championship, part of the Sr. PGA Tour, October 6-12 at Prestonwood Country Club.

🎡 NC State Fair
The North Carolina State Fair will run from Thursday, Oct 16 - Sunday, October 26. Here’s just a couple of the meal options that will be there: Cowgirl Bites from Fat Boys BBQ, NC Blue Crabmeat Ceviche from Waypoint Oyster Bar, BBQ Doughnut from D&J Concessions, Cheese Curd Tacos from Ritchie’s, Flaming Hot Cheetos Pickle Pizza from Rudy’s Pizza… and so much more.

🧀 Good Luck, Brookfield
WalletHub did one of those ranking gimmick things and listed my hometown, Carmel, IN as #1; Brookfield, WI as #2; and Apex, NC at #3. Brookfield’s current population is 42,151. Their population in 2000 was 38,714. They’ve added just 3,437 people to their town over the past 25 years. Psh, we call that a normal Tuesday. Anyway, who’s gonna start Brookfield Weekly?!

Things to Do This Week in Apex:

Friday, October 3

🐷 Fall ‘Cue & Stew
11am - 7pm | Ebenezer UMC

💃 Life of a Showgirl Album Launch Party
4pm - 8pm | Adventures in Bloom

🦶 Fall Play: Barefoot in the Park
7:30pm | Peak of the Vine

🎸 Kerry Long Duo Band
8pm - 11pm | Peak of the Vine

Saturday, October 4

🧑‍🌾 Apex Farmers Market
8am - 12pm | The Depot

🍻 🥨 5th Annual Oktoberfest
Starting: 12pm | Bottle Theory

🤟 Deaf Coffee & ASL Chat
1pm - 4pm | Panera

🎸 Crossroads Carolina
6pm - 9pm | Fratelli’s Deli

🎶 Live Music: Zach Wiley
6:30pm - 9pm | Southern Peak Brewery

🎹 Dueling Piano Night
Starting: 7pm | TapStation

Sunday, October 5

💜 Love Local Showcase
11am - 4pm | Downtown Apex

🏁 Healthy Kids Running Series Race
3pm | Salem Pond Park

Tuesday, October 7

🚒 Apex Night Out (ft. Touch-a-Truck)
4:30pm - 7pm | Town Campus

🎤 Open Mic - Salem Street Music Club
6pm - 9pm | Oaklyn Springs Brewery

Wednesday, October 8

💬 2025 Town Candidate Forum
5:30pm - 8pm | Apex Senior Center

🔠 Music Bingo
7:30pm | Rudy’s Pub

Local Business Updates

🍪 Groovy Duck Bakery is Open (**kind of, for a couple hours**)
Click-baity subject line, sorry. BUT, hear me out… Since you subscribe to The Peak Weekly, you’ve known for a couple of weeks now that Groovy Duck is coming to the corner of Salem & Chatham.

While not quite open just yet - they will be out there on Sunday from 11am - 4pm selling muffins, Duck cookies, chunky cookies, and will sample pumpkin bread as a part of the Love Local Showcase.

They are just one of many offering up some great deals this Sunday. See all of the Apex Love Local Showcase details here.

🧘 Soulful Strength Yoga 
The Grand Opening Celebration is today from 12pm - 1pm at 510 Upchurch Street, Suite 102. Soulful Strength Yoga offers a focused approach to physical development, designed to help you discover your capabilities and grow at your own pace. Learn more about them here.

🍺 South Line Brewing Co.
Way back in February, we told you that the popular Cary brewery was coming to Apex. And now they are here! South Line Brewing Co has created a new taproom and event space which is now open at 2141 E Williams Street in Apex. The NC Burger food truck will be there today. Hollywood Taco will be there tomorrow. See what food trucks will be there this weekend and see more photos on Instagram. Or, get a virtual tour from Mayor Gilbert and South Line’s owner, Big Mike here.

🍔 Al’s Burger Shack - Opening Soon
Grand Opening day had a few minor delays. Looks like a fairly confident grand opening is now scheduled for Wednesday, October 15.

🦪 National Fried Scallop Day
Pretend that emoji is a scallop, not an oyster. According to the internet, today is National Fried Scallop Day. Great excuse to go visit Skipper’s Seafood or hit up The Fish House / Jack’s Seafood.

🦷 A Brilliant Business Plan 

The fine folks from Bass & Watson Family Dental dropped off some sweet treats to Apex PD earlier this week. I sure hope those cookies don’t form some cavities…

I just had to give them a hard time. I know them! That’s my dentist office! They are THE BEST.

I had extreme dental anxiety and didn’t go to the dentist for like 20 years. I finally came to them and I was overwhelmed with how kind they were. They got my teeth sparkling white, dropped in like 8 fillings lol and I even powered through 6 months of Invisalign.

They were so incredibly kind and understanding that I was almost immediately cured of my lifelong dental anxiety. Every single person… especially these two 😁 Don’t believe me?! Check out the review I gave them a year ago.

Civil News:

🔌 Utility Updates

Changes Coming to Bill Design
The printed bills and digital PDF bills are being redesigned some more over the coming weeks. Currently, the bills only show a date range for electric service, not water service. The future design “hopes” to show both. The usage history graphs are also being removed from your bill because they, “take up too much space”.

Third Party Review Results
It took 123 days to receive my third-party review results, but I finally got the piece of paper telling me exactly what I expected. I was overbilled and a refund will be credited to my account. I’ll share some additional insights, data, and how you can still request your bill audit soon.

Meter System Upgrade
The Meter System Upgrade (MSU) project is now underway to replace most water and electric meter equipment across the town. This effort will span 12-18 months, reaching every residential and commercial Apex utility customer.

🌳 🐦️ Special Meeting
As you’ll see in the upcoming dates down below, there is an Special Meeting - Environmental Advisory Board this coming Tuesday. The purpose of this meeting is to receive special presentations from Trees for the Triangle and Pit Stop for the Birds, and to discuss possibilities for collaboration.  

🌱 Artificial Turf
The Planning Committee concluded that artificial turn is not specifically addressed as prohibited in parking lots within the UDO. The committee is conducting some research now but may move towards developing standards specific to artificial turf in the near future.

🤖 Data Center
A work session is tentatively scheduled for January to do a deep dive and educate the Council and the public on any proposed UDO standards that they might be asked to adopt.

Also, to piggy back on Raleigh Fire Captain Ripper speaking at last Sunday’s meeting about the lack of emergency coverage for the 2nd largest Data Center in NC, here is a timely article on the issue: First Responders Are Being Overwhelmed by Data Center Fires

🗓️ Important Upcoming Dates

Tuesday, October 7
Environmental Advisory Board
6pm | Town Hall

Friday, October 10
Town Council Strategic Planning
12pm - 5pm | Town Hall

National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month & Pit Bull Appreciation Month

October is both National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month and National Pit Bull Appreciation Month, a time to not only encourage adoptions but also to shine a light on breeds that are too often overlooked.

All month long, the Wake County Animal Center is offering dogs who have been in the shelter for more than two weeks for only $25.

Here are just a couple of these beautiful pups looking for a good home:

View the Pet Adoption Gallery

A Look Ahead

Note: Town-sponsored October Seasonal/Holiday upcoming events listed in the Intro section at the top. Scroll back up if you missed those. Here are a few other events to look forward to:

October 9, 2025
Potluck Luncheon (55+)
12pm - 1:15pm | Senior Center

October 13, 2025
Indigenous Peoples’ Day
6pm - 7:30pm | Nature Park Amphitheater

October 16, 2026
Learning Lunch: German Sausage Making
12pm - 1pm | Senior Center

October 18, 2025
Shred Day
8am - 11am | 105 Upchurch Street

October 18, 2025
Fittest 2 Serve
9am - 2pm | Fire Station 1

October 22, 2025
On the Steps Concert Series: Rissi Palmer
7:30pm | The Halle

Peak Plan 2055: Public Forum #1
Option 1: Wednesday, Oct 22
4:30pm - 6:30pm | Hope Community Church
Option 2: Thursday, Oct 23
4:30pm - 6:30pm | Town Hall

A Final Note:

Thank you for taking time out of your day today to read this week’s edition of The Peak Weekly.

As always, if you have any ideas of how to make this newsletter better, want to nominate a local business or organization to be featured, or anything else, please respond to this email or email me directly at [email protected]

See you next Thursday... 😘