🗞️ How the Honeybee Festival buzzed through Kernersville

🗞️ Glenn Bobcats gear up for football season

🗞️ Drought conditions persist in Forsyth and Guilford

🗞️ Back to school: a simple plan to calm first-day nerves

🌤️ Hot and mostly sunny | High: 94°F | Low: 73°F

A hot, mostly sunny Sunday to close out the weekend, with highs near 94 and a light west breeze. There is about a 30 percent chance of a stray afternoon or late-evening thunderstorm, so most outdoor plans should hold. Keep the water bottle close and grab some shade in the heat of the day.

If you made it out to Fourth of July Park on Saturday, you already know: the Honeybee Festival is still one of the sweetest days on the Kernersville calendar.

Kernersville Parks and Recreation hosted the free festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Fourth of July Park on West Mountain Street, timed as always to World Honey Bee Day on the third Saturday in August. More than 140 vendors filled the park with handmade goods, plenty of food trucks, live music, and, of course, jars of local honey. Kids chased bubbles, families spread out on the grass, and beekeepers were on hand to talk pollinators with anyone who wandered by.

What makes this one special is how genuinely Kernersville it feels. It is not a slick, corporate event. It is neighbors, makers, and local beekeepers celebrating the little insect that quietly keeps our gardens and farms going. A big thank-you to Parks and Rec, the vendors, and every volunteer who made another year happen.

If you missed it, mark your calendar for next August, and in the meantime you can keep an eye on future dates and details through Kernersville Parks and Recreation.

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Friday-night lights are almost back, and the Glenn Bobcats like where they stand.

Glenn kicked off preseason with a delayed multi-team scrimmage at the school, sharing the field with Ragsdale and Northeast Guilford. The scrimmage got pushed back about eight times for lightning before they finally got it in. "We really wanted to get the scrimmages in. We have a lot of starting position battles going on," head coach Tommy Green said. "The kids did a good job. They knew their assignments." He was especially pleased with the discipline: only two penalties across the whole scrimmage.

On offense, Green likes what he sees. First-time full-time quarterback Don Switzer II, a transfer from East Forsyth, "took the bull by the horns and looked comfortable out there." The backfield is a strength, with a "three-headed monster" at running back led by Ty'Sire McQueen Johnson, who had a couple of 200-yard games last season. Defensively, Glenn leans on an all-returning defensive line anchored by senior Terrance Daniels, who led the conference in sacks, with a young but promising group at linebacker.

The Bobcats compete in the Piedmont Triad 5A/6A conference and open the season at home on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. against crosstown rival East Forsyth, with the Kernersville Cup on the line. "We are on an uprise," Green said. Go Bobcats.

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Recent rain is helping, but the Kernersville area is not out of the woods yet.

Drought conditions continue across most of the Triad, though a rainy stretch has improved things in the southernmost parts of the region, according to the latest report from the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council. Forsyth County is split between moderate and severe drought, with most of eastern Forsyth in the severe category. Just to the northeast, northern Guilford County and nearly all of Rockingham County remain in extreme drought.

There is real progress, though. Some Foothills and southwestern Piedmont counties picked up two inches of rain or more last week, enough to move them out of drought and into the milder "abnormally dry" category. "Even normal summertime rain showers are having a positive impact in keeping water levels from dropping," said Corey Davis, assistant state climatologist at the N.C. State Climate Office. "We're making a dent in the drought and slowly getting closer to normal in parts of the state."

Even so, many reservoirs remain below normal after a year-long drought, so it is still a good idea to be mindful with water use around the yard and garden.

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The new school year is almost here, and if there is a nervous kid (or parent) in your house, you are in good company. A little preparation goes a long way toward a smoother first day.

Start with sleep. Shift bedtimes and wake-up times earlier by 15 or 20 minutes each day over the week before school, so the first 6 a.m. alarm is not a shock. A full-dress trial run of the morning routine, breakfast, backpack, and out the door, takes the mystery out of day one.

Then get ahead of the morning rush. Lay out clothes and pack the backpack the night before, and set a simple launch spot by the door for shoes, water bottle, and lunch. If your child is anxious about a new building or a new bus, drive the route together or walk the halls if the school has an open house, so the unknown feels a little more known.

Most of all, keep it light. Name the nervous feelings, remind them that almost everyone feels them, and share a story about your own first-day jitters. A quick first-day photo on the porch makes a nice tradition, too. You've got this, Kernersville.

See the school district calendar