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Planning Underway for the 3rd Annual Apex Jazz Festival – September 21
The Apex Downtown Business Association is planning for the 3rd Annual Apex Jazz Festival, to be held on Saturday, September 21, 2013. The ADBA Jazz Festival Committee recently announced that blues greats Captain Luke and Cool John Ferguson will be the co-headliners. The Committee is also seeking volunteers to help with staffing the event. Please go to www.apexjazzfestival.com for more information. Nearly 8,000 fans attended last year's Jazz Festival, featuring fantastic weather and some great music. 
Welcome to
Downtown Apex
Apex, North Carolina is a charming blend of rich history and bright future. Founded in the 1860's, the Town got its name from a location at the highest point on the old Chatham Railroad. Downtown Apex, considered one of the most intact turn-of-the-century railroad towns in the area, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an Historic District in 1994, and includes about 60 structures built between 1870 and 1940. The Old Union Depot, built in 1914, is designated as a Wake County Historic Landmark. The Apex Historical Society is located nearby in an old caboose.
Today, Apex is one of the most vibrant, progressive, and fastest-growing communities in the Research Triangle area, and the thriving Downtown Historic District is at the Town's heart. The unique mixture of historic homes, restaurants, and specialty shops gives special meaning to the motto: "Apex, the peak of good living." It's no surprise that Apex and the Triange area have consistently appeared as a top 10-ranked community in major publications such as Business North Carolina, Money, CNN/Money, and Forbes.
Come and experience the "The Peak of Good Living" in Apex, North Carolina!
Apex Farmers Market 2013 Season
The Apex Farmers Market is excited to announce the 2013 Season opens on Saturday April 6th. Opening Day will feature a Cooking Demo by their new "resident" Chef Claudio and the Apex High School Culinary Arts, Musical performances by Apex High School Orchestra & Kyle Scobie, and more fresh local fruit & produce with new baked boods & craft vendors. Check out their new website – www.apexfarmersmarket.com. Hours are 9am-2pm every Saturday. The Farmers Market is located at 220 North Salem Street Apex, NC 27502 (in front of the Chamber of Commerce – next to the firehouse) in Downtown Apex from early April through September. Don't forget to "Like" them on facebook and "Share" this post.
New Community Partner: The Apex Farmers Market is also excited to announce that Apex High School Culinary Arts Program will be partnering with them this season and will be there on Opening Day! Events and schedule details are still being finalized. So stay tuned on the new Website for updates on this. You can find out more about the Culinary Arts Program at apexculinary.blogspot.com and also at ehoskin3.wix.com/cougarcakescafe.
Message from the Apex Downtown Business Association President
Welcome to the Apex Downtown Business Association website. We look forward to seeing you in Historic Downtown Apex. We have some of the most unique shops for your shopping pleasure and our restaurants are waiting to show you what healthy food and service is all about.
Follow us throughout the year on our website – for we will be telling you about some of the festivals and celebrations that take place in the Downtown Historic District. Such celebrations as our Jazz Festival, Harvest Festival, Pigfest, and Christmas on Salem Street.
If your group would like to know more about the history and activities in the Downtown Historic District, I hope you will give us an opportunity to share our wonderful history with you.
J.C. Knowles, President, Apex Downtown Business Association jc.knowles@att.net
J.C.'s Downtown Historical Moments – Looking Back on Apex
What's in a name? Which do you choose, Log Pond, Apex or Curveridge? Before the town of Apex was established in 1873 the area was known as Log Pond.
Near the train depot, more a freight depot than a passenger depot, was a large pond which was filled from a natural underground spring. At the time, the timber business was in high gear and trainloads of timber were brought to the station and dumped in the pond, thus Log Pond. The purpose of keeping the logs wet was so that the trees would not lose their sap and dry rot. Today the pond location would be where the downtown fire station is located. If you stood in the street in front of the fire station and looked both north and south, you would see an incline in both directions.
As for the name Culveridge, in 1863 as the railroad was completing its surveys and grading of the line, a local farmer, John Whitehead who lived near the present day Tingen Road crossing, sold the Chatham Railroad three and one-half acres of land. However, there was one hitch to the sale – the railroad had to build a depot on the site and call it Curveridge Station. For some unknown reason the Chatham Railroad did not live up to the sale agreement and the land was reverted back to Whitehead, thus no Town of Curveridge.
The name Apex stuck. The engineers on the line had marked the spot on maps and documents that the site was the highest point (an apex) on the rail line between two destinations. Some folks say Moncure to Raleigh, Jacksonville, Florida to Richmond, Virginia and several other destinations. The Holleman brothers who authored the book Pluck, Perseverance, and Paint puts the name to rest with this statement: "These claims are all false -for one of two reasons. First, Apex was named around 1869, when it was a thirty-one-mile line called the Chatham Railroad. The Chatham Railroad terminated at the Haw River, to the southwest, and at Raleigh, to the northeast – Apex was named for being the highest point on that thirty-one-mile stretch."
For more interesting stories and history of Apex, consult the book Pluck, Perseverance, and Paint by Warren Lee and C. P. "Toby" Holleman, Jr. The book can be purchased at The Rusty Bucket in downtown Apex.
J.C. Knowles, Apex Town Ambassador jc.knowles@att.net
