• 🧠 Trivia Challenge: Spotlight Hook
• 📰 News: Four New and Upcoming Food Spots to Know Around Cary
• 📰 Scrollback: Help Us Build Cary’s Ultimate Dining Guide
• 📰 Scrollback: Should Schools Dial Back Laptops?
• 😄 Meme of the Day – Start Your Day with a Smile
• ❤️ Some stories are worth revisiting: Thank You For Your Gift
• 📅 Events: Weekend Events Preview (Top Picks)

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Question: What is the only country to lie entirely in the Alpine region?

(Answer at the bottom of the newsletter.)

Downtown Cary has several new dining options, led by the opening of Lloyd’s Full Service at the corner of Chatham and Academy streets.

Lloyd’s occupies a restored 1950s service station and features a large outdoor patio. The restaurant comes from the group behind The Durham and The Mayton hotels, as well as the upcoming Gables. Visit them here

The menu includes linguine and clams, a signature cheeseburger, garlic-lemon roasted chicken thighs, grilled sirloin with chimichurri and rotating seasonal dishes. Lloyd’s currently serves dinner Wednesday through Friday and lunch and dinner on weekends, with plans to add more service, including brunch.

Also new downtown is K38, which has opened at 147 E. Chatham St. The Baja-inspired restaurant traces its concept to founder Josh Vach’s surfing trips along Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. This is the restaurant’s seventh location. Learn more here

More openings are coming nearby. Doherty’s Irish Pub & Restaurant has leased the former Spirits Pub & Grub space at 701 E. Chatham St. The location includes a patio with more than 100 seats. An opening date has not been announced.

Meanwhile, Insomnia Cookies is celebrating its grand opening Saturday, Aug. 29, at MacGregor Village. The shop specializes in late-night cookie delivery and stays open as late as 3 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Elsewhere in the Triangle, KatSushi recently opened at Boxyard RTP. The concept specializes in Japanese hand rolls wrapped in crispy nori.

We’re rewinding the feed to spotlight a standout moment, story, or snapshot from Cary’s past. Let’s scroll back and see…

What are your favorite places to eat in Cary?

Cary’s food scene keeps growing, and we want to hear from the people who know it best: Cary Spotlight readers.

Take our quick Cary Restaurant Survey and tell us your favorite local spots, from date-night restaurants and hidden gems to pizza, burgers, coffee and more.

Your answers will help us create a reader-powered guide to some of the best food Cary has to offer.

As Cary students settle back into the school day, one debate keeps surfacing in drop-off lines and PTA group chats: how much screen time is too much?

We asked Cary Spotlight readers whether schools should scale back laptop use during the school day and the results show a community split almost right down the middle, with barely a device's width separating the top two answers.

"Should schools reduce how much students use laptops during the school day?"

🚨 Near-tie alert: "Healthy balance of both" and "bring back more paper and pencils" are separated by just 1.43 percentage points; essentially a statistical dead heat. Worth flagging clearly in copy so readers don't read too much into which one is "winning."

Cary readers aren't rejecting technology outright; they're rejecting too much of it. Combine the top two answers and nearly 96% of respondents want less laptop time in some form, whether that means a deliberate balance or a full return to paper and pencils.

Meanwhile, only a small sliver of readers think laptops are essential as-is, and almost nobody thinks the reduction should be limited to younger grades only. This isn't a tech-vs-no-tech fight; it's a shared sense that the pendulum has swung too far toward screens.

Another reader tied the issue to equity and home access, arguing that since many students already have ample screen time at home, school hours should lean on paper-based learning while also raising pointed questions about who pays for at-home technology access for lower-income families. It's a view that touches on both education policy and tax spending, so we've kept it in summary form here.

On the "healthy balance" side, one grandparent offered a more measured take:

Looks like Cary's verdict is in: keep the laptops, but don't let them replace the No. 2 pencil just yet.

What’s faster than word of mouth? Cary Spotlight! Keeps you updated on what is going on locally and connects businesses to our vibrant community.

Outdoor events may be changed due to weather, so click the links to see latest event information. Here are a few great ways to enjoy the weekend:

• Saturday: Beyond the Booths: 50 Years of Lazy Daze All Day
• Saturday: Cary Farmers Market 8AM-12PM
• Saturday: WCPSS Football 4PM & 7:30PM
• Sunday: Beyond the Booths: 50 Years of Lazy Daze All Day
• Monday: PPA Pickleball Tour: North Carolina Open All Day
• Monday: Stretch and Refresh 10AM-11AM

But wait! There’s more. To save space in your inbox, we’ve moved the full list of events online — now you can plan ahead: See Full 2-Week Calendar