The Apex Rotary Club Christmas Parade will roll down Salem Street on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 5 p.m. The street will still be under construction. The Town of Apex began its $4.7 million Salem Streetscape project in January. As of September, the town's target for reopening the road is mid-December, with cleanup and punch-list work continuing into mid-January.
That timing puts every major downtown holiday event ahead of the finished street. Small Business Saturday, the Snowman Stroll and the parade all bring people to Salem Street while it is still a work zone, and the tree lighting at Town Hall falls in the same weeks. For the shops and restaurants along Salem, those same weeks are the ones they have been waiting all year for.
The parade route stayed, with one new limit
In June, WRAL reported that the parade might get a new route or float restrictions because the streetscape work had fallen behind schedule. The route itself did not change. According to the Apex Rotary Club, the parade starts at Ambergate Station and The Peakway, heads down Salem Street, turns onto Moore Street and ends at the Apex Public Works buildings on Upchurch Street.
The limit is on the entries, as the club's 2026 registration page explains.
"NEW FOR THIS YEAR: DUE TO ROADWAY LIMITATIONS IN DOWNTOWN APEX, ALL PARADE ENTRIES WILL BE LIMITED TO A MAXIMUM VEHICLE AND/OR TRAILER WIDTH OF 9'-0"."
The width is measured mirror to mirror. So the parade is the same one Apex knows, but the floats will be built to fit a narrower street.
On the downtown blocks themselves, the stretch of Salem between Saunders and Chatham streets has been one-way southbound since construction began. WRAL reported in September that crews had finished the underground and paver work on the east side by mid-July. Traffic then shifted to the east-side lane while the west side was torn out and rebuilt, and a 5-foot sidewalk path stayed open in front of the west-side businesses. The town has said the delay came from electrical and lighting revisions, including more electrical service for future improvements.
These weeks matter most to Salem Street merchants
Before the delay, the project was expected to finish in October, which would have given merchants a finished street for the holidays. Skylar Gnann, front of house manager at Salem Street Pub, told The News & Observer that November and December are the pub's busiest months because downtown events draw customers. The pub has temporarily lost eight outdoor tables along its frontage, and Gnann told the paper, "We don't have lunch crowds anymore."
The figures in that early-September report show how long the slowdown has lasted:
| Business | Before construction | Early September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Mission Market | 100 to 120 customer orders on a normal weekday | About 70 to 100 |
| Mission Market revenue | Same period last year as baseline | First down about 50%, then about 20% lower |
| Salem Street Pub daily revenue | Comparable days last year as baseline | Generally 10% to 30% lower |
Across the street at Anna's Pizzeria, manager Stephen Perticona told the N&O that business did not bounce back when crews finished his side of Salem. Business on Salem Street comes back as people return, and this year's events bring people downtown before the street is finished. The same N&O story describes regulars from neighboring towns who meet at Mission Market because Salem Street is a convenient midpoint, then often head to Salem Street Pub for a late lunch.
The calendar, in order
The town's response so far has been to direct people downtown. It put up "open for business" signs and asked residents to buy gift cards, visit shops and restaurants, and let people know the businesses are still easy to reach. The holiday calendar gives people specific dates to do that:
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Small Business Saturday | Participating Apex businesses, all day |
| Sun., Nov. 29 | 5th Annual Kid's Holiday Craft Fair, 2:30 to 5 p.m. | The Halle Cultural Arts Center, 237 N. Salem St. |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | Tree Lighting Ceremony, 4:30 to 7 p.m. | Town Hall, 73 Hunter St. |
| Dec. 4 to 13 | Snowman Stroll on Salem | Participating downtown businesses |
| Dec. 4 to 6 | Infinity Ballet's "Nutcracker Dances," four performances | The Halle |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Apex Rotary Club Christmas Parade, 5 p.m. | Ambergate Station and The Peakway to Upchurch St. |
| Dec. 11 to 13 | "Christmas Play & Musical" | The Halle |
On Small Business Saturday, participating Apex businesses set their own specials. GoApex is the suggested way to get between shops. The craft fair the next afternoon brings families to The Halle, which sits on North Salem.
Dec. 4 opens the busiest stretch
The first Friday in December is the busiest night on the calendar. The tree lighting at Town Hall runs from 4:30 to 7 p.m. The Snowman Stroll on Salem starts the same day. Infinity Ballet's first "Nutcracker Dances" performance at The Halle begins at 8 p.m., after the tree lighting ends.
The Snowman Stroll is a free passport hunt. Participants find snowman stops at downtown businesses during their regular hours and collect a sticker at each one. Six stickers earn one raffle entry. Passports are available at participating businesses, the Welcome Center, the tree lighting or the Rotary pancake breakfast, or you can print one at home. That means a family picking up a passport at the tree lighting has reasons to walk Salem Street for the next ten days, during the stretch that ends just before the street is scheduled to reopen.
The parade comes the next evening. After that, The Halle's "Christmas Play & Musical" runs Dec. 11 to 13, with evening shows on the 11th and 12th and 3 p.m. matinees on the 12th and 13th. If the mid-December target holds, those performances will be the last of the season held before the street reopens.
What has changed on the blocks since last December
The storefronts have changed too. Some shops are new since last season, and some regulars are gone:
- JoyFully House at 118 N. Salem St. was listed as now open in late September. It sells jewelry, gifts and home décor and serves Turkish tea and coffee as a community space. (Apex Suburban Living)
- Legacy Rolls at 700 E. Williams St. is run by father and son Jerry and Justin Canada. They were aiming for a soft opening by the end of October, selling cinnamon rolls made from a 150-year-old family recipe in flavors such as blueberry, cookies 'n cream and caramel apple. (The News & Observer)
- Alleyway Bookstore closed over the summer, and the owners cited a rent increase. The Perky Lady was scheduled to close Oct. 15. Neither business named the streetscape as the main reason for closing.
Outside downtown, Grain & Berry opened Oct. 10 at 2017 Creekside Landing Drive in Beaver Creek Crossings, serving açaí bowls, smoothies, juices and wraps. (The News & Observer)
Parking and timing
Parking was the biggest complaint in the September coverage. Matthew James, a co-manager at Mission Market, told The News & Observer, "It's just such a hassle to park and walk around the building to get in here to bring your family." The town points visitors to an interactive parking map and the Apex Parking app to find open spaces. Its downtown parking page is the place to check which lots are open on a given evening. The construction detour has also moved several GoApex stops. Nine regular stops are suspended and five temporary stops have been added, so riders should check their usual stop before Small Business Saturday.
For updates through December, the town's Salem Streetscape page is the official source. The plan calls for wider sidewalks, new lighting, street trees and street furniture. If the schedule holds, the parade and ten days of snowman stops will happen on the unfinished street, and Salem Street will reopen in mid-December.
If you're curious how Apex's changing downtown might affect your home's value, The Sheri Hagerty Group will prepare a free home valuation built on what's happening on these blocks right now.
