Weekly Update, July 31

Hello, Carrboro. I'm not sure how July is already over, but suddenly August is upon us. That means you can find the new print edition of The Carrborean around Carrboro and Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Pittsboro, and Durham.

I was pleased to see that even as the month-long global Plastic Free July initiative is ending, Weaver Street Market is finally bringing back its ceramic mugs for in-store coffee drinkers and lowering the cost of a cup of Joe to $1.89. The monthly Really, Really Free Market, our town's collective thumbed nose to runaway capitalism that we wrote about last week, absolutely honors the spirit of Plastic Free July and takes place tomorrow afternoon from 2 - 4pm at the Town Commons.

In related news, Dennis Carter returns to recycle Anything with a Plug at Carrboro Plaza from 9 to 11 a.m. next Saturday, August 8. See our story from 2025.

How fortunate we were to dodge a tornado fall Tuesday night! It's humbling to see the damage to parts of Raleigh. Speaking of weather, the rained-out Carrboro In Motion event planned for last Friday will take place this evening, 5-8 p.m. at Collins Crossing. And recent rains have brought our reservoirs up to 75.8%.

This coming week is (National and N.C.) Farmers' Market Week: Aug 2 - 8. The wild fires, drought, floods, and cyclospora outbreak have certainly underscored the difficult and necessary contributions of our farmers, whom we get to meet and thank through our farmers' market. Next Saturday, Aug. 8, the Carrboro Farmers' Market will host "mini-museum" in the gazebo, tracing the market's history since its founding in 1979, with a follow-up quiz-raffle with a basket full of market goodies ready for the lucky winner.

We haven't forgotten about you, Cyclospora. Our friends at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services have tracked 157 new reported cases in the state this past week, and eight new hospitalizations. See the latest from NCDHHS here.

Online this week

Plastic-free July ends in Orange County but reducing, reusing, and recycling habits continue.

Are the tenants of the Club Nova apartments on Main Street getting a response to the grievances they've aired with the managing nonprofit? Read our story from Elaine Ellis.

Check out this story from Pamir Kiciman about the two twenty-minute shows that will take place during the Really Really Free Market this Saturday on the Town Commons, using clowns and Shakespeare to draw attention to the little food pantry on the Libba Cotten bikeway.

On The Carrborean Radio Hour

This past week, John Rees hosted a two-part show. First, PORCH staff spoke about their summer fundraiser. After that, the founders of the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation spoke about their cross-country bicycling trip fundraiser. Listen to the recording here.

John Rees also hosted a special edition of The Carrborean Radio Hour today, talking with guests from the Triangle West Transportation Planning Organization, Town of Carrboro Planning, and Jason Merrill, Carrboro Council Member, about the J Branch Rail Trail Feasibility Study. Listen to the recording here.

Residents are invited to weigh on the future of the J Branch Rail Corridor, which runs from Chapel Hill through downtown Carrboro. The next and final workshop takes place from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, August 1, at Morris Grove Elementary School. The registration form, which is optional, can be found here.

Next week, we're hosting former Carrboro Poet Laureate and current Carrboro Town Council Member, Fred Joiner, who will be talking about his new book of poetry, The Mirror in Our Music. We'll have two special guest interviewers who are also award-winning poets as well as local students. Tune in Monday at 4pm on WCOM-LP FM 103.5 or stream at wcomfm.org.

After each radio show, join us at a pop-up newsroom to discuss all things Carrboro and stories you'd like to see, hear, or write. New month, new location! In August, you'll find us at Weaver Street Market on Mondays from 5 to 6 pm.

News from CHCCS, Town, and County

On Tuesday, the Carrboro Police Department is hosting a National Night Out from 6 to 8 pm on the Town Commons.

In a unanimous vote at their meeting Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Commissioners appointed Rani Dasi to the Board, representing District 1. She's filling the seat left vacant by Jamezetta Bedford. Ms. Dasi brings experience from serving on the CHCCS Board of Education and from her professional role as vice president of operations and finance at RTI International, an independent scientific research institute located in Research Triangle Park. You can watch our exclusive highlights reel from Tuesday's Board meeting, including tributes to Ms. Bedford and Ms. Dasi's acceptance of the appointment, here.

We'd like to highlight a few opportunities offered by Orange County next Wednesday:

Other Interesting Things

On Tuesday evening, from 6 - 7 pm, the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is hosting its free monthly Carolina Science Cafe at the Haw River Tap & Table in Carrboro. This month's speaker, Dr. Jonathan Campbell of Duke University, will be presenting a brief history of the evolution of GLP-1 medications.

Final Notes

The Community Bulletin Board has announcements and opportunities for fun, volunteering, and civic engagement and is updated weekly.

There's so much going on in Carrboro! Check out The Events Calendar to see what's happening and help us keep it up-to-date.

Please consider a paid subscription to support community journalism (local news from the people living it). Subscribers at the "Angel" tier get the first-ever Carrborean T-shirt, along with the knowledge that they're making it possible for us to keep bringing you grass-roots community news-telling. Thank you to The Merch for printing the shirts! Ask your favorite businesses if they advertise in The Carrborean.

Poetry Moment

In honor of the Irish bard and musician Glen Hansard, whose untimely death this week has left music fans around the world in shock and grief, we offer the lyrics he penned with Marketa Irglova to the leading song from their film Once, "Falling Slowly":

I don't know you, but I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me and always fool me
And I can't react

And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
And moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black

Well, you have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice, you had a choice
You've made it now

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice, you had a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly, sing your melody
I'll sing it loud
Oh Only love survive the fall