Thursday August 4th 6-9pm, Friday August 5th 6pm-midnight, Saturday August 6th 9am-midnight. Free festival, small fee for Rodeo, carnival rides and games. One of the largest horse parades on the East Coast. Enjoy country, bluegrass, gospel and beach music. Entertainment also includes Rodeo, fireworks, mule show, arts & crafts, and antique tractor show. Food vendors on site. Middleton Street, downtown Robbins. For more information call (910)464-1290 or visit www.robbinsfarmersday.com.

The U.S. Kids Golf World Championship is one of the world’s largest junior golf championships for kids ages 6-12. To be played August 4-7 on Pinehurst courses No. 3, No. 4 and No. 8, as well as nearby Longleaf Golf & Country Club, Mid Pines, Southern Pines Golf Club, Talamore, Midland Country Club and Little River. For more information call (888)387-5437 or visit www.homeofgolf.com/uskidsgolf.

 The 23^rd Annual Pinehurst Food & Wine Festival, held at Pinehurst Resort September 2-4, will again feature more than 40 international wineries as well as award-winning guest chefs. Guests can purchase tickets to individual seminars or choose a nightly package that includes two full days of activities, a significant value.

Guest chefs this year include Robert Sisca, Executive Chef at Bistro du Midi, one of the hottest new restaurants in Boston. Sisca’s specialty is savory authentic Provençal menu, ingredient-driven and complemented by tradition and technique. Guest Pastry Chef Bill Foltz promises to tempt palates with an array of unique and award winning creations. Named U.S. Pastry Chef of the Year in 2006, Foltz comes from the award-winning luxury L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, La.

The series of events begins Friday, September 2 with a Wine Tasting and Competition where guests serve as judges to score wines in 10 different categories. After an afternoon of seminars, Friday culminates with a Wine and Dine reception at the Clubhouse Veranda followed by a Grand Dessert Reception and tasting later in the evening.

Saturday kicks off with a Culinary Demo and Luncheon featuring guest chefs followed by seminars throughout the day culminating in an extravagant Grand Gala Dinner with live music and dancing.

Sunday’s highlight is the expansive Ultimate Champagne Brunch in the Carolina Dining Room. This year, Pinehurst has partnered with the Moore County Chamber of Commerce to add the annual “Culinary Showcase” to the festival agenda, the final event of the weekend. The Culinary Showcase will feature 16 Moore County Restaurants competing in various categories.

Overnight packages are $280 per person and include access to all events on your day of arrival as well as events the next day through the afternoon. Tickets to individual seminars and events can be purchased on http://www.ShopPinehurst.com beginning July 1. Overnight packages are on sale now. To learn more, visit http://www.pinehurstwinefest.com or call 800.486.4653. A full schedule of events can be found at Pinehurst.com.

Participating Wineries

About Pinehurst

Located in the North Carolina heartland, world-renowned Pinehurst Resort is a 2,000-acre historic property featuring spa, golf, tennis, and other recreation for the entire family. Widely known as the cradle of American golf, Pinehurst has hosted more single golf championships than any other site in America, including the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, Ryder Cup Matches, and the PGA Tour Championship.  Pinehurst was recently named the site of both the 2014 U.S. Open and 2014 U.S. Women’s Open Championships in back-to-back weeks. See pinehurst.com or call 800-487-4653 for a complete list of events and activities.

The Villas at Forest Hills is excited about Pinehurst hosting the U.S. Kids Golf World and Teen World Championship.  See how to volunteer at the link below:

http://www.uskidsgolf.com/eng/6thClubFree/volunteer.cfm

About Pinehurst
Located in the North Carolina heartland, world-renowned Pinehurst Resort is a 2,000-acre historic property featuring spa, golf, tennis, and activities for the family. Widely known as the cradle of American golf, Pinehurst has hosted more single golf championships than any other site in America, including the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, Ryder Cup Matches, PGA Tour Championship and many others. It will serve as the site of both the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open Championships in 2014 in back-to-back weeks through an unprecedented decision by the USGA. See pinehurst.com or call 800-487-4653 for a complete list of events and activities.

www.pinehurst.com

Villas at Forest Hills shares in the excitement with FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital of its ranking second in overall orthopedic services as well as second in Joint Replacement in the state of NC.  Residents at the Villas are comforted knowing that such an advanced and respective health care facility is located in the Village of Pinehurst.  It is always a big amenity when a residential development has such close proximity to world class medical centers.

If there’s a tougher nut to crack than North Carolina’s Top 10 Golf Course list, it must be made of hickory. Being a resident of the newly constructed Villas at Forest Hills in Pinehurst, you can be a member on some of these courses courtesy of Sage Built.

There always seems to be a slight shifting of positions in the Top 10, selected annually by the North Carolina Golf Panel and published in Business North Carolina Magazine, but the names pretty much remain the same.

And you can bet a round of drinks at the 19th hole that Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 Course will always top the list. That’s a given, and it’s doubtful it will ever change.

The major reason that No. 2 remains entrenched as No. 1 is because it deserves it. Donald Ross did the finest work of his storied career on No. 2, and a reputation steeped in golf lore and legend has only grown over the years.

Now, with the brilliant restoration project recently completed by architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, there doesn’t appear to be anything on the horizon that could unseat this tradition-laden course from its perch atop the state’s elite. Certainly the fact that both the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Opens will be held on the course in back-to-back weeks in 2014 will not tarnish that image.

For the second straight year, Grandfather Golf and Country Club, in Linville, is ranked second in the Top 100. The Ellis Maples-designed course leapfrogged Tom Fazio’s Old North State Club into that position last year and holds firm.

Quail Hollow, in Charlotte, which annually hosts the PGA Tour’s Wachovia Championship, is again ranked fourth, edging Pine Needles Lodge and Country Club, in Southern Pines. Pine Needles, another Ross classic, has hosted three U.S. Women’s Opens.

Rounding out the Top 10 are Charlotte Country Club, the Elk River Club, in Banner Elk, the Country Club of North Carolina’s Dogwood Course, Forest Creek’s South Course, and Pinehurst Resort’s No. 4 Course.

Almost unbelievably, this gives the Sandhills five of the state’s top 10 courses and three more that cracked the Top 20. Pinehurst No. 8 is ranked 12th, Forest Creek’s North Course 16th, and CCNC’s Cardinal Course 20th.

Resting just outside the Top 20 is National Golf Club, the beautiful and challenging Jack Nicklaus design, at No. 22.

www.SageBuiltNC.com

www.Pinehurst.com

Builders who are including green features in their homes and are able to provide their customers with energy savings are in a prime competitive position in the housing marketplace that is emerging from the sharp downturn of recent years, according to participants in the upcoming 2011 National Green Building Conference & Expo, which will take place on May 1-3 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City.

The green building market is expected to double in the next two years and the tide has turned for energy-efficient, sustainable construction, according to financial analysts specializing in the home building industry.

Green will also be an increasingly significant factor in the valuations of new homes, as the appraisal and banking industries begin to realize its market advantage, they say.

More than a fifth of all homes built in 2010 earned Energy Star certification from the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the EPA, while the number of commercial buildings certified increased by 60% over the previous year.

The number of single-family homes certified to the National Green Building Standard has topped 2,000. And production builders are increasingly changing their building practices to focus on sustainability, according to the Calvert Asset Management Company.

“Our survey of the 10 largest publicly traded U.S. home builders finds an evolving landscape,” said Calvert sustainability analyst Rebecca Henson. “Whereas two years ago the industry had not yet begun to embrace sustainability as a core part of building design and construction, companies today have taken many meaningful steps toward developing greener and cleaner homes.”

This year’s Green Building Conference will focus on an issue of primary importance for builders and developers — how to maximize the sales potential of green building upgrades and emphasize their value to consumers in a marketplace expected to be cost-conscious yet especially responsive to products and technologies that will improve the performance, comfort and health and safety of their homes.

“Green building creates value in so many ways,” said Doug Calvert, a builder from Gainesville, Ga., and chair of the National Green Building Conference & Expo Working Group. “This year’s conference will help housing industry professionals explain that value to home buyers, policy makers, appraisers, financiers and others whose decisions will shape the market.”

This year’s conference has been organized to provide beginning and veteran green builders alike with the resources they need to rejuvenate their businesses at a critical juncture for the housing industry. For information on the National Green Building Conference & Expo, click here.

The conference opens on May 1 with the Green Building & Technology Tour sponsored by Lutron, which will show conference attendees the latest applications of green building techniques in homes and community development.

Lowe’s Commercial Services, Wells Fargo and Whirlpool are the corporate sponsors of the conference. GE ecomagination is the sponsor of the opening keynote session, featuring Mike Holmes of HGTV’s “Holmes on Homes,” which takes place at 9:00-10:15 a.m. on May 2. (For a related NBN story, click here.)

In a keynote general session on May 3 at 10:30 a.m.-noon, social media guru Amber MacArthur will discuss how builders, remodelers and others in the housing industry can improve their use of social media to sell their products and services.

Another highlight of the conference is the Green Building Awards program sponsored by Bosch Appliances and Mohawk Industries, which takes place the evening of May 2 at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center. Winners of the awards set the standard for sustainability in residential construction.

The Hamptons, another sister property of Windjam Development, is proud to be the site for the third consecutive year of the 5th Annual NC Children’s Promise Gala (a Preakness Stakes party) on May 21st, 2011.  Ticket registration and further details can be found at www.runforthepromise.org.  It is a great party!  Look forward to seeing you there!  Also, while visiting The Hamptons, tour Sage Built’s, Tomorrow’s Leader, which is the first luxury estate home benefitting the NC Children’s Hospital.

About Windjam Development
With a fresh approach to land development, Windjam has established itself as a highly respected land developer in Raleigh, NC and surrounding markets. The company’s strong financial capacity coupled with creative land planning enables Windjam to develop attractive, well-planned, and well-positioned communities. To learn more about Windjam Development, visit www.WindjamDevelopment.com.

About The Hamptons
The Hamptons, an 182-acre luxury community, is located just around the corner from Fearrington Village, and minutes from Jordan Lake and downtown Chapel Hill. Home to sweeping mountain vistas, tumbling meadows, and Dr. E. H. Ward’s historic farmhouse, The Hamptons features a very limited number of lots ranging in size from 1 to over 6 acres and priced from the $200s to $400s. Hamptons’ homeowners will enjoy their choice of custom homes from North Carolina’s premier builder, Sage Built.

www.WindjamDevelopment.com

www.TheHamptonsNC.com

www.SageBuiltNC.com

www.RunforthePromise.org

www.NCChildrensHospital.org

About The Palustris Festival:

Presented by the Arts Council of Moore County, Convention & Visitor’s Bureau of Pinehurst, Southern Pines & Aberdeen Area, and PineStraw Magazine, the second annual Palustris Festival will present a variety of events showcasing the visual, literary and performing arts in Moore County. Scheduled for March 24-27, 2011, the festival is drawing attention from many arts groups in and around the Sandhills area and is sure to offer something for everyone! The Palustris Festival will include a concentration of over 100 diverse and unique cultural performances and events in only four days. In keeping with the desire to have the Palustris Festival as accessible as possible, over 65% of the events are free and open to the public. Of the rest, which are ticketed events, none are more than $25 per ticket. Stop by the Villas at Forest Hills located in the Village of Pinehurst while in the area for a tour as well.

Villas at Forest Hills

Village of Pinehurst

Villas of Forest Hills’ residents now have the comfort in knowing that FirstHealth Moore Regional is now home to a comprehensive heart and vascular hospital, typically only found in big cities and complex academic centers.  So you don’t need to travel around the state, or the country, to get advanced heart medicine.  Rex Vick, Jr., President of Sage Built and Windjam Development states, “It is always a huge benefit to have top notch medical facility near any of our neighborhoods.  The addition of the Reid Heart Center is a tremendous asset that is really hard to put a value on its tremendous importance in the community and the residents of Pinehurst”.  The New Reid Heart Centered opened this past January.  The Villas of Forest Hills is located in The Village Of Pinehurst®, North Carolina. This community showcases luxurious town homes up to 3,100 square feet with two-car garages. Each home is ENERGY STAR® qualified, Certified NAHB Green, and includes membership to the world renowned Pinehurst Country Club®.