Welcome to 5 Things You Need to Know Today, your place for useful facts. We'll provide this early morning digest each weekday to keep Salemites and Salem Patch users in-the-know.

1. We may have missed the pizza competition this year, but we still had a great time at Heritage Days. Be sure to tune in at 1 p.m. for our favorites from Heritage Days 2011.
2. Remember to head on over to the Senior Center at 6:45 p.m. tonight for a presentation of the Winter Island master plan, which will include a discussion on the potential wind turbine. 
3. We've received lots of questions about posting events and announcements lately. To learn more about posting you own, click here. 
4. Yesterday we debuted a new column On This Day. We'll be featuring news events on their anniversary. The Ropes Mansion fire was our first pick. Do you have any suggestions? Email Editor Aubry Bracco at aubry@patch.com or let us know in the comments.
5. Have you check out this week's Patch Deal? This week's deal comes from Madam Had'em in Marblehead. Check it out here.

To find out what else is happening today in Salem, check out our events calendar.