From baseball all-stars to former presidents, Zebulon was the place to be.

But the year of celebrity began long before either of those visits when Ann Liles was named Zebulon’s Citizen of the Year by Mayor Bob Matheny.

Liles, a long-time volunteer with many organizations in town, received the honor at the Zebulon Chamber of Commerce banquet in January.

Just weeks later, another local non-profit group was in the headlines as the eastern Wake Relay For Life found itself looking for a new location to hold its wildly popular fund-raising event.

Relay leaders were forced to look for a new home for the Relay after officials with the Wake County Public School System enforced new rules that prohibited open flames at campus events.

The new rule meant open grill cooking was no longer possible, a big challenge for an event that relied heavily on food sales to raise money.

Relay leaders worked out an agreement with the Carolina Mudcats to hold the event at Five County Stadium. While all that was going on, Matheny was fighting a different kind of battle. Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker proposed hiking water rates in response to lower water revenues. The lower level of income was the result of conservation efforts enacted by the city to ward off the effects of a prolonged drought.

Matheny was one of several mayors who opposed Meeker’s plan and Raleigh City Council members later rebuffed the idea.

The Zebulon mayor was also among those who urged Meeker to enact even stronger conservation measures just one week later which Meeker endorsed as the drought reached its peak.

On Feb. 29, Zebulon police found themselves in a manhunt after a man wanted on unrelated charges got in a fight with police Sgt. Tivon Howard at Mr. G’s.

Steve Wilson wrestled with Howard and eventually took Howard’s gun and fired it into the ceiling of the store before running away. Zebulon police, along with Wendell and Rolesville police, Wake County Sheriff’s deputies and the N.C. Highway Patrol later found Wilson hiding in the woods off Morphus Bridge Road. He was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, among other charges.

And as Knightdale residents were learning they would not be getting a new Super Wal-Mart, Zebulon shoppers were celebrating the opening of the nation’s largest retailer in their town.

The Zebulon Wal-Mart opened its doors March 5. Several businesses have since opened in parcels in front of the new big box store, creating a new business district in town.

In May, as election season reached a fever pitch, Zebulon residents had a chance to rub elbows with a former President.

Bill Clinton stopped in Zebulon just a day before the primary to stump for his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was locked in a pitched battle with Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president.

Clinton’s stop in Zebulon was one of 58 small towns he blitzed in the days leading up to the election, but his famous campaigning skills weren’t enough to deliver the Tar Heel state for his wife, who went on to lose the nomination but rebounded with an appointment as Secretary of State when Obama won the general election in November.

The celebrity train continued in July when Five County stadium played host to the Southern League all-star game. The exhibition contest highlighted improvements made to Five County Stadium by Wake County and the town of Zebulon and offered local baseball fans a glimpse of many of the major league’s future stars.