The Peak Way and Corn Sweat

👋 Good morning, Apex! Today is Thursday, July 24th, 2025 and this is the 29th weekly issue of The Peak Weekly.

I learned something kind of interesting yesterday.

I was reading through some of my favorite scientific journals and…

Just kidding. I was scrolling through TikTok.

And I learned that the humidity levels are higher this week in North Carolina because the corn is sweating in the Midwest.

Have you heard this? It’s called Evapotranspiration (or, “Corn Sweat”) which is basically evaporation combined with transpiration. During corn’s peak (right now), a single acre of corn can release between 3,000 and 4,000 gallons of water into the atmosphere every day. When you consider the millions of acres of corn grown in the Midwest, this adds up to billions of gallons of water vapor being pumped into the air daily.

Apparently, all of that makes its way over here, increases the humidity, and makes it feel even hotter.

I guess I can’t be too mad about all the Midwest corn sweat making its way over to Apex. After all, I’m also from the Midwest (and more specifically, born and raised in the roundabout capital of America) and made my way over to Apex.

Not sure if I made things any hotter here, though.

ANYWAY, this week’s update might be a little thinner than usual.

It’s kind of a slow week in terms of news and updates, if you couldn’t tell from that corny intro.

But don’t worry! There’s still some good stuff to talk about so let’s get to it.

Miscellaneous:

🛂 Get Your Passport Ready
Your Local Spot passport, that is. Now through September 2, grab a Local Spot Passport and fill it with signatures from 6 different Sip Stops and 6 different Shop Stops. Submit the completed passport at The Depot to receive a Peak of Good Living branded wine tumbler or pint glass, as well as one entry into a raffle. Get all the details here.

🌳 Nature Park Bridge is Open
The bridge that connects the two sides of Apex Nature Park is now open, though some finishing-up work may still be ongoing.

🏞️ Middle Creek Greenway Delayed
Due to delays in construction of the Sunset Hills Lift station, completing this project has been delayed until September.

🪪 Senate Bill 391
In an effort to ease mounting frustrations with the DMV, Gov. Stein has signed Senate Bill 391 into law, granting a temporary two-year grace period. Under this legislation, licenses expired as of July 1 will remain valid, for in-state driving only, through Dec 31, 2027.

🐶 Clear the Shelter Extravaganza
Now through August 31, adoption fees for all pets at the Wake County Animal Shelter will be waived. Currently, the center is caring for 236 dogs, 13 puppies, 62 cats, 229 kittens, three rabbits and six guinea pigs. The facility recently reached critical capacity after receiving 113 new animals in one week, making space a pressing concern.

💼 Work at the Chamber
The Apex Chamber of Commerce has two open positions: Volunteer Relationship Coordinator and Business Development & Office Manager. Apply here.

🥫 Summer Stock-Up Food Drive
Help ease the burden of summer hunger and bring joy to those in need. Now through July 31, drop off donations to Western Wake Crisis Ministry at 1600 Olive Chapel Rd #408. List of most needed items here.

🅿️ Pay to Park?!
Have you heard the rumor that the Town of Apex is going to start charging you to park at the Saunders Lot once it reopens? Don’t worry. It’s just a rumor. Mr. Mayor says no way.

⚡️ Apex Outages
I have lost power twice in the recent weeks. I believe one was storm related and Tuesday’s was transformer-related. Either way, I saw several people reporting that the Apex Outages web page and app were down. After a little investigation, I figured out that the old page for outages is still up (and comes up first in Google) but the new page here appears to be actively working and has all of the proper phone numbers and app downloads to report outages. Just for future reference!

Things to Do This Week in Apex:

Friday, July 25

👚 Mabopane Marketplace
7am - 12pm | 3913 US Hwy 64W 

📚️ Family Storytime
10:30am - 11am | Eva Perry Library

🍺 🐕️ Pints + Puppies (w/ Peak Lab Rescue)
5pm - 8pm | Southern Peak Brewery 

Saturday, July 26

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

🏀 Summer Slam 3v3 Basketball
9am - 5pm | John Brown Community Center

❔ Mystery Bag Sale
10am - 5pm | The Studio 

👕 Mabopane Marketplace
10am - 1pm | 3913 US Hwy 64W 

🥤 Free Dirty Soda Day
12pm - 6pm | Soda Box

💃 Latin Night on Salem Street
9pm | Oaklyn Springs Brewery

Tuesday, July 29

☘️ The Irish Exits
6pm - 9pm | Doherty’s Irish Pub

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

Wednesday, July 30

🍷 Wine Down Wednesday
11am - 9pm | Peakway Taps

🍖 Oik N’ Moo BBQ
5pm - 9pm | Southern Peak Brewery

🎶 Music Bingo
7pm - 8pm | Abbey Road Tavern

Things to Do Nearby:

Eco Kids Scavenger Hunt
Saturday | 9am - 11am
Thomas Crowder Nature Center (Raleigh)

Summerfest at Fenton
Saturday | 11am - 3pm
Fenton (Cary)

100 Men Who Give A Damn
Monday | 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Montague Lake Pavilion (Raleigh)

Local Business

Now Open

💇‍♀️ Danielle Marie Hair Co.
1451 Richardson Rd. Ste 111
Apex, NC 27523

→ website

𖠣 Black Diamond Chiropractic
1451 Richardson Rd. Ste 128
Apex, NC 27523

→ website

New Openings

Chun Yang Tea Opens Tomorrow (7/25)

📌 2828 Teachey Place

🗓️ Friday 7/25
👉 50% Off Entire Menu

🗓️ Saturday 7/26 & Sunday 7/27
👉 20% Off Entire Menu

⏰ Store Hours: 11:30 AM – 9:00 PM

View details here

Serafina Ristorante Opens Monday (7/28)

📍 126 N Salem St.

Serafina will open on Monday for dinner service. Lunch service will begin mid-August with Brunch on Sundays.

See some updated interior photos here.

View website here

Having Trouble Keeping Up with Sweetwater?

We’ve got you covered.

The Peak Weekly is excited to share that we are launching a new website called The Peak Way.

This is a place where we can expand on content more in-depth than what we can do in the newsletter.

It is far from complete. In fact, we haven’t even built a home page for it yet.

We did, however, build a Sweetwater page!

This should tell you everything you need to know about Sweetwater and will be updated regularly.

Much more to come on this website including content around New Hill, our parks, interviews with local business owners, a new/improved project development tracker tool, and much more!

See The Peak Way’s new Sweetwater page here

(and let me know what you think!)

Civil News:

💰️ Budget Highlights and Major Projects
On Tuesday, the Town shared a 4-minute video detailing some of the FY25-26 budget hightlights and major projects.

All the numbers from the video are mentioned below, but if you’d rather watch the video you can do so here:

• $55k for Cricket Pitch at Jaycee Park

• $450k for Middle Creek Greenway

• $250k for Reedy Branch Greenway

• $672k for Beaver Creek Greenways

• $200k for Kelley Rd Park Playground Renovation

• $1M for New Park on Wimberly Road

• $3.9M for Renovations & Additions at Fire Station 3

• $1.4M for Apex Fire Warehouse and Storage

• $1.25M for Apex Fire new Engine Pumper Truck

• $500k for Public Safety Radio Replacement

• $300k for Sidewalk Improvements

• $7.6M for Repaving Town Maintained Streets

• $150k for Williams Street Sidewalk Upgrade

• $426k for two new Public Works fleet additions

• $1M for Salem Street Streetscape Project

🗳️ Final Town Council Candidate List
The deadline is up for candidates to file for the three open Town Council seats coming up for election this fall. The final list is (in order of how IndyWeek has it):

• Ed Gray

• Shane Reese

• Sue Mu

• Andre Powell

• Mary Miskimon

• TJ Evans

• Aditya Ahlawat

• Kyrone Nebolisa

We’ll share some more information about each candidate in a future newsletter.

📫️ New MyAccount for Utility Billing
By now, almost everyone should have received their July utility bill in the mail (I received mine yesterday). Make sure you set up your new account and reconfigure any autopay or paperless billing. Pro tip: when registering, do not include the hyphen in your account number.

🔎 Utility Bill Audit
If you’d like your utility bill audited and corrected, you have a week left until the deadline (July 31). You can request your audit here.

🗓️ Important Upcoming Dates

Thursday, July 24
CommUniversity: Writing Your Neighborhood History
6pm - 8pm | Senior Center

Thursday, July 24
Mayor ‘In the Community’ Town Hall
9:30am - 11am | Cambridge Village

A Look Ahead:

August 1, 2025
First Friday at Sweetwater
6pm - 10pm | Sweetwater Town Center

August 9, 2025
Impending Joy (Rhythm & Reels)
7pm | Nature Park Amphitheatre

August 13, 2025
Mix, Mingle, and Meet the Mayor
3:30pm - 5:30pm | The Reserve at Mills Farm

In Case You Missed it:

🅿️ Saunders Lot Status
Cast-in-place concrete retaining wall is complete. Storm drainage installation is over 60% complete. Initial layer of paving (1 of 2) is complete. Final paving and markings in Phase 1 are slated for completion by end of August. Once complete, the southern lot will reopen to the public and provide approximately 200 new parking spaces. See some updated photos here.

🌴 What Kind of Trees Do You Want?
Help plan for the upcoming annual 'Plant the Peak' program by taking this survey and sharing your top three preferred tree species.

👮 APD Community Police Academy
The annual Community Police Academy starts September 4. If you are interested in learning more about our the police department and the law enforcement profession, or are interested in joining the Citizens Assisting Police in Apex volunteer group, email [email protected] for an application. Deadline to apply is Friday, August 8.

🏞️ Beaver Creek Greenway Status
The new section of Beaver Creek Greenway from Kelly Road Park to the Nature Park may look complete, but it is still under construction! Please avoid using this section until it officially opens to the public. More info here.

🌈 Honor Your Pet at the Rainbow Bridge
Located on the Beaver Creek Greenway just beyond the Target (near the Beckett Crossing neighborhood), visitors are invited to bring their pet’s collar and attach it to the bridge rails as a lasting tribute.

🥤 Cook Out
Cook out recently filed a Certificate of Zoning Compliance for 1001 E Williams St. Last year-ish, they backed out of a deal over on Hwy 55 but looks like the new location across the street is a go.

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... 😘