A longstanding tradition in the town of Apex is the Olde Fashioned Fourth of July. The daytime celebration is known for its Americana feel, situated in a historic downtown with a street festival and kid-decorated bikes and strollers parading along Salem Street.
This year, with the Salem Streetscaping Project in progress, Salem Street won’t host the event. But popular elements of the celebration are moving to the previous day’s Fireworks Frenzy event at Hunter Street Park at 1250 Ambergate Station in Apex.
“I’m really bummed that it’s not going to be on Salem Street because of the history,” said Mayor Jacques Gilbert in an interview with The Line. “My kids dressed up their bikes and wagons.”
But, he said, “the components are the same.”
The popular Parade of Wheels will kick off the Fireworks Frenzy the afternoon of July 3. Starting at 4 p.m., kids can start lining up their bikes at Hunter and Salem Streets. The parade starts at 4:20, followed by the other popular activity: the firehose-fueled Splashdown from the Apex Fire Department.
A drone light show is planned for 8:45. After a break, the fireworks show starts at 9:30.
Salem Street business owner Alexis Jenssen, who owns North Left Mercantile with husband Leif, said they were disappointed to lose the Olde Fashioned Fourth of July tradition on Salem Street this year. But they’re excited about what the streetscape improvements will mean for downtown.
While the changes to the Independence Day events are in the news now, Apex Mayor Pro Tem Terry Mahaffey said this wasn’t a decision tied to delays in the Salem Streetscaping project, which was scheduled to be under construction this summer.
“The recent construction delays are more relevant to the Christmas Parade,” Mahaffey said in an email to The Line. “Based on the current schedule, the condition of Salem Street around the Christmas Parade is still uncertain.”
The Rotary Christmas Parade is typically held the first Saturday in December. It’s the only nighttime holiday parade in Wake County.
Delays connected to the electrical plan for the project in March and April pushed back the construction end date to December. Gilbert said this prompted the town council to start discussing a contingency plan for the parade.
After talking through different options and going back to the Rotary Club that organizes the event, the town council landed on a more traditional route or a traditional route with adjustments for the Christmas Parade in a work session on Tuesday.
“Those adjustments could include modified routing for larger vehicles, having some participants use smaller vehicles, or other changes that allow the event to continue safely if parts of Salem Street are narrower or constrained,” Mahaffey said in his email. “Rotary is scheduled to meet with Council in August, and by then we should have a better sense of the construction timeline and what options are most practical.
“The goal is to preserve these community traditions as much as possible while being honest about the temporary constraints created by a major downtown infrastructure project,” Mahaffey continued.
Store owner Jenssen emphasized the importance of the Christmas parade to downtown businesses and would like to see a way for it to be on Salem Street.
“These events are an incredibly important part of Apex’s identity and are especially meaningful for the local businesses that help make downtown a destination year-round,” Jenssen said in an email to The Line.
In the meantime, Jenssen noted, Downtown Apex is still easy to access. Salem Street is currently one-way from Saunders Street to Chatham, but traffic moves through smoothly and there’s plenty of parking available.
“At first glance, the construction appears far more disruptive than it actually is in terms of accessibility and traffic,” Jenssen said.
Gilbert said he’d also like to see the town’s annual Christmas tree lighting moved from the Apex Town Hall campus back to in front of the Depot on Salem Street this year.
“Let’s look for another opportunity to keep people on Salem Street,” he said.
