🗞️ Kernersville lands $2.42M to restore flood-prone Beeson Creek

🗞️ Winston-Salem's Pepsi bottling campus sells for $34.5 million

🗞️ Movies in the Park returns July 17 with 'Grease'

🗞️ Save the date: the Honeybee Festival buzzes back Aug. 15

🌞 Mostly sunny and hot | High: 93°F | Low: 72°F

A hot but slightly calmer end to the week, with mostly sunny skies and just a stray afternoon storm possible. Good evening for the park. Keep the water bottle close.

Kernersville has secured $2.42 million in federal EPA funding to fix up a badly eroded local creek, and the town is now looking for a design-build firm to do the work. The target is Beeson Creek, where years of "flashy" storms and old, straightened channels have left the banks unstable. The project will rebuild and stabilize about 1,710 linear feet of streambank.

There is more to it than tidy banks. The plan calls for carving out floodplain pools to hold storm water and boost wildlife habitat, plus planting a diverse stretch of forest along the creek. Because Beeson Creek drains into Abbotts Creek and on to High Rock Lake, a drinking-water reservoir for several Piedmont communities, the cleanup helps protect water quality well beyond town. Officials say the work should also ease downstream flood risk and shield nearby homes from further erosion. In short, a healthier creek that does a better job protecting the neighborhood around it.

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One of the Triad's big industrial properties has a new owner. The Pepsi Bottling Ventures campus in Winston-Salem, a 51.5-acre site with a 526,000-square-foot plant at 390 Business Park Drive in the Union Cross Business Park, sold this week for $34.5 million, according to a Forsyth County Register of Deeds filing. The buyer is an affiliate of Realty Income Corp., a big national real-estate owner, and the seller was a California-based firm that had held the property since 2020.

The good news for the area: this is a real-estate deal, not a shutdown. Pepsi Bottling still employs about 550 people at the campus and recently poured money into it, wrapping up a $35 million production expansion and a new bottling line in late 2024 for brands like Aquafina, Lipton Tea and Nature's Twist. Realty Income already owns hundreds of properties across North Carolina, including many in the Triad.

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Grab a lawn chair, the free Movies in the Park series is back at Harmon Park, and the July 17 feature is the summer classic Grease. Gates open at 6:30 p.m. with vendors, games and food to enjoy before the show, and the movie rolls at dusk, around 8:30 p.m. The first 100 guests get a goodie bag, so it pays to come early.

Bring a blanket or chairs and settle in at 152 S. Main St. for a fun, family-friendly night out. There will be plenty to munch on, with Hot Dog Hideaway, Kona Ice, the Ice Cream Lady, La Monona, Smokin BBQ Chateau and Semi Co Coffee on site. One heads-up for parents: for safety, the playground closes at dusk when the movie starts, so keep an eye on the little ones once the lights go down.

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It is never too early to circle a good one on the calendar. The Kernersville Honeybee Festival returns to Fourth of July Park on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This beloved local tradition packs the park with more than 140 vendors, food trucks and, of course, plenty of honey.

It is a free, all-ages day out celebrating the little pollinators that keep our gardens and farms going. There are sponsors, entertainment and a vendor lineup still coming together, so check kvhoneybee.com for the latest details, or call 336-996-3062. Mark it down now, then come hungry in August.

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