🗞️ Forsyth County is aging fast: seniors are now nearly 1 in 5

🗞️ Kernersville aldermen approve a 336-unit apartment complex

🗞️ A Triad choral group just performed at Carnegie Hall

🗞️ Loneliness and aging: how "mattering" makes the difference

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Forsyth County is getting older, and quickly. New U.S. Census Bureau figures show the county's population trends now mirror what is happening across the South: slow growth among children, steady growth among young working-age adults, and rapid growth among seniors. From mid-2020 to mid-2025, the number of residents 65 and older jumped by more than 10,600, or 16.2 percent, to over 76,339. That is more than triple the county's overall growth rate.

Seniors now make up nearly one-fifth of the county's population, up from 17 percent in 2020. Children, meanwhile, are a shrinking share. The number of residents ages 5 to 13 fell by almost 1,000, and the under-5 group grew by fewer than 600. After seniors, the fastest-growing group was adults 25 to 44, what the Census Bureau calls the "early work and family-building" years, which grew by nearly 8,000.

The South was the only region of the country where every age group grew, and that growth was concentrated in "metro counties" like Forsyth. For local families and leaders, the numbers point to a community that will keep needing more of what older adults rely on, from health care to housing to social connection, even as it works to attract and keep younger families.

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More apartments are coming to Kernersville. At their June 2 meeting, the Board of Aldermen approved a 336-unit apartment complex near Kernersville Medical Parkway, just east of Brookford Drive. The project began with a voluntary annexation of about 21 acres at 1515 Brookford Road, next to an existing apartment community, and a rezoning from single-family residential to multifamily use with a maximum density of 18 units per acre.

The board voted 4 to 1 in favor, with Alderwoman Sarah Sabanis casting the lone dissent. The new apartments are planned as two-bedroom, two-bathroom units.

In other business, the board held a public hearing on a request to rezone about an acre at 1478 NC 66 South to allow a restaurant with a drive-thru. A separate hearing, on rezoning roughly 31.5 acres southwest of East Mountain Street and Snow Bridge Lane, was rescheduled for the board's July 7 meeting. Together, the items are one more sign of how fast the area around Kernersville continues to grow.

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What is the right gift for a choral group's 10th anniversary? For the Heart of the Triad Choral Society, it was a trip to New York City to perform on the stage at Carnegie Hall. The roughly 100-member community chorus gave a 45-minute concert there last weekend, and the response was unforgettable. "We received a very long standing ovation at the end of our performance. It was phenomenal," said Carol Earnhardt of Wallburg, the group's artistic and executive director.

The performance was arranged through MidAmerica Productions, which organizes concerts at Carnegie and other venues. The chorus sang two pieces: composer Dan Forrest's acclaimed "Requiem for the Living," a roughly 40-minute, five-movement work, and the world premiere of "Sunrise," a four-minute piece commissioned for the group's anniversary and composed by North Carolina composer Gwen McLeod Hall. The singers were accompanied by pianist Julianna Martin and the 60-member New England Symphonic Orchestra.

For bass Michael Martinez, it was a thrill. "I was just over-the-top excited for this trip and the opportunity to be in Carnegie Hall," he said, calling the experience "overwhelming in the most positive of ways." After the concert, the group capped the trip with a dinner cruise around the Statue of Liberty before heading home to the Triad.

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With our lead story showing Forsyth County growing older, here is a hopeful companion piece. Writing in Psychology Today, researcher Rabiya Karamali makes the case that loneliness in later life is often less about being alone and more about feeling invisible. Even in busy senior communities, she notes, many older adults quietly wonder, "Do I still matter to anyone?" Research links loneliness to depression, anxiety and other health risks, but the feeling of "mattering," that someone values you and relies on you, can act as a powerful buffer.

The encouraging part is that mattering can be rebuilt through small, everyday actions. Karamali suggests simple steps anyone can take: ask older relatives and neighbors for their wisdom and advice, give them meaningful roles and chances to contribute, and create connections across generations so young and old enrich one another. A simple "What do you think?" can go a long way toward telling someone their voice still counts.

It is a fitting reminder for a community with a fast-growing senior population, and an easy one to act on. A phone call, a shared meal, or an invitation to help can carry the message that matters most: you are noticed, you are needed, and you still belong here.

If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available any time by calling or texting 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

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