Welcome to The Line, a newsletter for Cary and Western Wake from The Assembly Network. The Line connects the dots for local life with timely info, relevant news, interesting people and expert guides. 

It’s our first edition! Here’s what’s going on.

Off the top: Early voting for the November 4 elections continues through Saturday at Wake County sites, including Herbert C. Young Community Center in Cary and John M. Brown Community Center in Apex. 

🚉 Arriving Now

1. What it’s like to host on the Apex Tour of Frights
2. Local election guides for Cary, Apex, and Morrisville
3. Data center plans in Apex progress
4. Can you guess this coffee shop?

The Apex Ghostbusters House

There’s Halloween decor, and then there are the 30 houses on the Apex Tour of Frights.

Visit The Upside Down at the Stranger Things house or decorations synchronized to music at Fright Lights of New Hill. Ever seen a pumpkin singing “Smooth Criminal” with a spooky tree as backup? Take the Orange Route, one of two 15-stop trails, and you will.

A mainstay is The Ghostbusters House. The Walls family has decorated their home for years, and it’s been on the Apex Tour of Frights since it launched in 2022.

The glow of the Halloween lights is visible before turning the corner to 115 Homegate Circle, where the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man towers over the Apex driveway.

“I try not to buy a lot from Home Depot and Lowe’s,” Kevin Walls said. “I try to get things you’re not going to see other places. I think that’s what makes it cool.”

Case in point: A custom Bill Murray (as Dr. Peter Venkman) on the front porch of the home he shares with wife Ashley and their two daughters.

“He was a bust that I commissioned a guy to make for me, then put it on top of a mannequin and dressed it up,” Walls said. An Ecto Containment Unit is another custom item by a cabinet maker: “It’s really heavy, actually.”

Every year, the Walls layer on new decorations. This year they added 25 carved pumpkins of different Ghostbusters characters and Terror Dogs on the roof.

The Ghostbusters House is interactive for both walkers and those who opt for a drive-by tour. A motion-sensor speaker on the sidewalk spouts Ghostbusters quotes, another bespoke creation. Stay long enough and see Vigo the Carpathian come to life!

The house is popular with trick-or-treaters. They gave out 250 full-size candy bars last year and are stocked with 300 for this year.

All of the haunts on the Apex Tour of Frights pack up on November 1. But after a brief break, The Ghostbusters House transforms into The Star Wars House for Christmas.

How to go: 6-9 p.m. nightly through Friday. For families with younger kids or the spooky-averse, there’s a corresponding rating–all ages, 5 or older, 13 or older– attached to each location on the Apex Tour of Frights map. 

  • 13 are all ages, 15 are 5+, and two are just for the big kids and adults.
  • Navigate using the Orange Route or Purple Route on the Google Maps app. 
  • The Ghostbusters House is stop #13 on the Orange Route, 115 Homegate Circle, Apex.

🍬🍬🍬

Celebrating Halloween in (s)Cary?

Go on a Downtown Cary bar stroll on Halloween night, organized by Hearsay, with stops at 12 “local haunts” for Scary Cary 2025. Download or pick up a map and stop in for Halloween-themed activities.  Collect at least six stickers, with Hearsay as one of them, for a gift card drawing to MC Restaurant. Participating location hours vary, Friday.

Election Day Countdown

It’s one week until Election Day! You have until Saturday to vote early, if you prefer. And if you need to register or update your address, remember that you can’t do that on Election Day.

Undecided about your vote in Cary, Apex, or Morrisville? INDY’s reporting has you covered: 

INDY’s Cary endorsements: Curious how it works? Endorsements are independent, researched recommendations as a service for readers. INDY has made endorsements for Triangle elections for years. The recommendations were made by editor in chief Sarah Willets, Wake County editor Jane Porter, and staff reporters Chloe Courtney Bohl and Chase Pellegrini de Paur. They reached out to all six candidates for interviews, talked to people knowledgeable about local government, reviewed the candidates’ records, attended candidate forums, in addition to their own own reporting.

🗳️ What they considered: Experience, understanding of the role, plus “who is best positioned to serve the town’s diverse constituency and who seems prepared to make difficult decisions with forethought and care.” 

  • Endorsements for the Cary Town Council District A, C, and at-large seats. 

👋🏽 Meet INDY’s Wake County team: INDY’s team will be my key collaborators in bringing you the news that Western Wake deserves in The Line. That includes Jane Porter and Chloe Courtney Bohl. 

  • Jane Porter is an experienced reporter and editor who has covered Raleigh and the Triangle, from starting as an INDY intern to previously serving as editor in chief. Now she’s leading Wake County coverage and has recently been reporting on Apex. 
  • Chloe Courtney Bohl covers local government and politics as a Report for America corps member. You can find her reporting on Wake County, including Cary and Morrisville.

💬 I want to hear from you! What do you want to know about the November 4 local elections? Reply to this email or send your question to line@theassemblync.com for possible inclusion in next Tuesday’s newsletter. 

In Brief | What I’d Tell You Over Pumpkin Spice Lattes

🏭 A proposed Apex data center could transform an area south of Old U.S. Highway 1: The Town of Apex Environmental Advisory Board voted 6-3 to allow a developer’s plan for a data storage facility to move forward, INDY reports. 

  • The developer’s answers to environmental questions seemed to relieve some of the concerns from members of the advisory board. Now it will move to the Apex Planning Board and Town Council. 
  • The question for decisionmakers isn’t whether Apex should have a data center, but about land use. Do town leaders want to annex the unincorporated New Hill area and use that area for future industrial growth?

What else? 

💀 Celebrate Día de los Muertos: Mexican restaurant a’Verde in Cary will host a community altar through Sunday with a Day of the Dead party on Saturday starting at 6 p.m. 

🚲 Hunter Street bike park? Apex is considering a new bike park and skills area for all ages. Fill out the town survey with your input.

📚 West Regional Library reopens: One of Wake County’s busiest libraries reopened its doors Monday after extensive renovations to the West Cary location. Visit and see refreshed areas for kids and teens, study and work stations, courtyard improvements (including better WiFi), new public art from Thomas Sayre, and more. 

Guess the Coffee Shop

I’ll be highlighting different third-places and local haunts you might already frequent.

Can you guess which coffee shop this is? Reply and share! Find the answer in next week’s newsletter. 

P.S. What do you want from The Line? Fill out our launch survey if you haven’t yet! And please share The Line with friends in Cary, Apex, and Morrisville to help us grow. ✉️

Sarah Day Owen Wiskirchen is the head of newsletters for The Assembly Network and editor of The Line.