Get your tour buttons for annual farm tour
The 12th annual Piedmont Farm Tour is fast approaching, and if you want to pay a visit to any of the 34 farms on this year’s tour you’ll need to get your button. The tour runs over Saturday and Sunday April 21-22. Tickets are $30 per carload for all 34 farms or $10 per carload per farm on the days of the tour. The tour is presented each year by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and co-sponsored by the association and Weaver Street Market.
Tickets (buttons) and maps for the tour are available locally at both Weaver Street Markets, Fifth Season, Maple View Ice Cream, Niche Gardens, the General Store Café in Pittsboro, Chatham Marketplace, Hillsborough Farmers’ Market and Fearrington Farmers’ Market.
Boards recognizes Sexual Assault Awareness month
The Carrboro Board of the Aldermen and the Board of County Commissioners issued proclamations at their last meeting recognizing April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
At the meetings, representatives from the Orange County Rape Crisis Center provided teal ribbons, which individuals nationwide wear during the month of April to increase awareness of sexual violence and show support for prevention efforts.
One in six women in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton said that although he had heard the statistic, he did not realize how widespread sexual assault is until he heard many personal stories from individuals asking about the teal ribbon he wears in April.
The rape crisis center will host a number of educational events this month. For more information, go to www.ocrcc.org or contact the center at 968-4647.
Landfill closed for Easter
Orange County Solid Waste convenience centers will be closed on April 8 for Easter Sunday.
However, curbside recycling will be collected according to the regular schedule on April 6, which is Good Friday. The centers will also be open as usual on April 6 and 7.
In addition, the Orange County Landfill on Eubanks Road and associated services will maintain normal business hours on April 6 and 7.
Free cancer screenings at UNC
Free screenings for head and neck cancer will be offered in the lobby of the N.C. Children’s Hospital from 1-4 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, as part of Oral, Head & Neck Cancer Awareness Week, which is sponsored by the Yul Brynner Head and Neck Cancer Foundation.
Appointments are encouraged, but not required. Warning signs and symptoms for oral, head and neck cancer include ulcers in the mouth that will not heal, a lump in the neck, difficulty swallowing or a change in voice. Risk factors include smoking or chewing tobacco, alcohol consumption and a history of cancer in the affected area.
To schedule an appointment, or for more information, contact Sean Gallagher at 843-6916 or stgallag@unch.unc.edu.
New playground dedicated at Simpson Street Park
The Carrboro Recreation and Parks Department dedicated new play equipment at the Simpson Street Park on Tuesday.
Mayor Mark Chilton, town manager Steve Stewart and other town officials attended the dedication ceremony. The new equipment includes a swing set, a slide, a climber and a seesaw.
The park previously had no playground equipment.
Children’s Hospital event to focus on shaken baby syndrome
The N.C. Children’s Hospital will sponsor an event from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, April 20, to raise awareness of shaken baby syndrome.
The event will feature fathers and other men gently rocking babies in rocking chairs on the stage in the Children’s Hospital lobby. The event will highlight the dangers of shaking babies, which can cause severe injuries and death. Fathers or other male caretakers are more often than women the perpetrators in cases of shaken baby syndrome.
Several university doctors, including Alan Stiles, chairman of UNC’s Department of Pediatrics, will be available for questions. Educational materials and tips on how to prevent the shaking of a baby will also be available at the event.
Chapel Hill finishes Lot 5 deal
Chapel Hill town manager Roger Stancil has concluded the final set of negotiations on a retail and residential complex to be constructed on the town-owned Parking Lot 5, according to a release sent out by the town Wednesday afternoon.
Stancil was authorized by the Chapel Hill Town Council to finish negotiations with Ram Development Co.
The project includes 137 condominiums, an underground parking garage with roughly 330 spaces and 27,000 square feet of public space.
With the completion of negotiations, the project can move forward through the town’s development review process.
Talk scheduled on North’s urge to fix the South
The southern United States has been the object for more than two centuries of Northerners wishing to aid, uplift and otherwise rescue their compatriots, according to the theme of an upcoming exhibit at UNC.
The display, “Reform, Reconstruction and Redemption: The Northern Impulse to Save the South,†will be on view April 10 through Aug. 31 in the Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit Room on the third floor of Wilson Library. Hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.
Using documents from the library’s collections, the exhibit explores an intellectual and cultural phenomenon that extends from the abolition of slavery to the Civil Rights era of the 1960s and public health initiatives in the 1960s and 1970s.