Q: I’m a senior who has a lot of ideas about how this community can better meet the needs of older adults. How do I get involved in Age Friendly Forsyth?
Answer: It’s always a positive thing when people decide to get involved with helping to make our community better for everyone. Age Friendly Forsyth (AFF) welcomes local seniors who are willing to lend the benefits of their knowledge, experience, and even opinions to participate.
Age-Friendly Forsyth is a community alliance that engages and informs aging adults and community partners to create a livable community through the sharing of information, strategic collaborative planning, and advocacy. The Age Friendly Forsyth vision is that our collective work will result in aging adults in Forsyth County living their best lives. The nonprofit’s structure is intended to be highly collaborative, inclusive, and well-connected to other groups in the county with similar priorities. Resident input plays a heavy role in setting priorities. The AFFCommunity Engagement Council consists of resident volunteers who help drive the work and decision-making processes.
The alliance is actively recruiting volunteers who live in Forsyth County to serve as members on the Community Engagement Council. This is an excellent way for older adults to get involved with Age Friendly Forsyth.
The primary function of a volunteer Community Engagement Council member is to serve as the communication liaison for a designated area of the community. Council members serve by connecting with residents, hearing and communicating community needs and concerns to Age Friendly Forsyth, and having an active voice in sharing opinions about areas of need.
A $25 stipend is provided to members for each monthly Community Engagement Council meeting attended. If you are interested in serving on this council or want more information, please contact Daymond Davenport at daymond@agefriendlyforsyth.org.
Q: My family will be visiting from out of town for a few weeks over the holiday. I have a couple of grandchildren and would like some activities we can all enjoy. Do you have some ideas?
Answer: The holidays are a great time to spend with family and explore Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. Fortunately, with the holiday right around the corner, there are a variety of family-friendly events you all can enjoy such as visiting Old Salem, ice skating, making gingerbread houses, walking at local parks, viewing holiday lights, and much more.
Old Salem Museum and Gardens offers a variety of holiday happenings. One of the most popular is their Christmas by Candlelight Guided Tour. It includes a tour of Main Street, learning about the process of making small replica villages, houses, and landscapes all while listening to Christmas music. Every Saturday through the month of December, experience Winkler Baking Day featuring one of the few beehive bake ovens (a dome shaped brick oven used in the middle ages) in the nation. Sundays are Salem Sleuth Day for Kids for the month of December. This is an interactive program with a “sleuth” mission to complete while touring the historic town of Salem. These are just a few of the activities offered. For more information, visit oldsalem.org or call 336-721-7300.
The Forsyth Public Library system has various holiday-themed reading activities and eventsvisit forsyth.cc/library/childrenslibrary for more information and to view a full schedule of events.
If you would like something more active, ice skating is an option. The Winston-Salem Fairgrounds has ice skating and group lessons. There is a $12 admission fee and rental skates cost $3 per person. Visit wsfairgrounds.com or call 336-774-8880 for more information about days and times of operation.
Another great way to burn some energy is to visit one of the many parks in Forsyth County. Our local parks have wonderful walking trails and scenic views. For a listing of parks in the Winston-Salem area, visit cityofws.org/Departments/Recreation-Parks.
One of Winston-Salem’s best-known holiday attractions is Tanglewood Park Festival of Lights, which is open from 6-11 p.m. now through Dec. 31. This drive-thru light display is almost 5 miles and features more than 1 million LED lights. This light show has been described as one of the best light shows in the U.S. For fees and more information, visit forsyth.cc/parks/Tanglewood/fol/ or call 336-703-6400.
Körner’s Folly, a historic house museum in Kernersville, is offering self-guided tours each Tuesday through Sunday through Jan. 7, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Guests will have the opportunity to experience the house decorated with Victorian interpretations of classic Christmas stories from the 1880s-1910s. Tickets can be purchased online at kornersfolly.org/buy-tickets.
It is a wonderful time for residents with out-of-town guests, like yourself, to explore attractions you may have never visited or thought about. There are so many other family-friendly activities for you and your grandchildren to enjoy. For even more kid-friendly places and events in Winston-Salem, visit visitwinstonsalem.com/events.