The 30 days is just there to give the PC's time to RP and interact with the townsfolk. Fast forwarding the days if the PC's have nothing to do won't cause any problems.
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You don't want to play out every second of every day, but as the events begin to happen the pcs will begin to get more engaged, your right that they might not wander out and look at the statue, but to the towns folk it might be a pleasant place to stroll in the afternoon, I think the AP mentions that lovers often meet their for a tryst. If the PCs are about town running an errand for the professors daughter when suddenly an aggrieved girls bursts in tears screaming about blood on the statue, this causes the PCs to investigate.
So some times you will do things to the players and other times you will draw them in by doing it to other NPCs
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I made a calendar for this game and am tracking every single day. It has, so far made the game feel more "real."
I set the adventure in Lamashan (October). I planned every day the letters appear, when certain events will happen in town (outside PC interaction) and when the town hall meeting happens. This gives me a schedule to play by, to make things feel like they are happening of their own accord.
After the reading of the will they went back to the graveyard to investigate the false crypt and fought some undead rising from their graves. They seek a meeting with Father Grimburrow afterwards.
So far the majority of the action has been straight to Harrowstone. They investigated the grounds in one day. They discover the first letter when passers by heckle them and accuse them of defacing the monument. Which gets them to the monument to find out what happened.
Finally they get to Harrowstone and enter. They are under a time constraint an get some investigating done and whet their appetites for what is going on. They were under a time constraint because they had perviously asked to meet with Father Grimburrow and he had agreed to meet them the afternoon they went to Harrowstone. So they had to return in time for the meeting.
The barbarian had contracted a disease and needed time to recover so they killed a day or two to recover. They did some research. I "changed" the mechanics of research. Instead of one high roll and they learn everything there is to know about the subject, I only allowed one piece of information per success no matter how good it was. Though the roll still had to meet the DC score required to learn the info. This dragged the research out to several days.
The PCs finally return and finish the first floor. The Poltergeist was the best encounter. It took their potions and spell books and whatever to throw at them. It destroyed several potions and put the broken condition on the wizard's spell book (could not be used to learn spells) until he repaired it.
Then the PCs go to the Harvest Fest. There they interacted with the NPCs. The stirges attack the festival when some music is played on the gazebo. The PCs save the festival and literally saved a baby from being carried off.
Then that afternoon the weather changes. A pretty fall day drops 40 degrees, and storms from hell roll in within seconds. Skeletons and zombies come in from the north road. The PCs defeat the undead and help NPCs find their children and get to shelter.
The next morning the PCs find there is a search for a little girl. The girl is one of the five children of the couple that own the General Store. They track some prints to the river's edge where they find blood splatters. Then they follow prints down river. Eventually they find the girl's body washed against a pylon under the southern bridge. They take her body back to town.
They continue tracking the tracks to Gibs' place and the monument. They find the second letter and LOTS of blood. They summon the sheriff and they find a bloody butcher knife and a bucket with some blood in it. They search for Gibs and find him at the General Store mourning with the other townsfolk.
They quietly have him arrested so as to not stir up a mob. They feel he was probably possessed during the murder so are trying to protect him. They even arrange for Father Grimburrow to cast Protection from Evil on Gibs to help him resist the possessions.
They returned to the prison and knocked out the second floor. I almost killed two PCs. They used a LOT of resources during the fights. The PC nearly killed by Father Charlatan still isn't sure if he really died or not. The key to the PCs surviving was one of the clerics (we have two or they WOULD have been dead) was using Detect Undead and detected Father Charlatan so the two haunts did not happen simultaneously. Had that occurred I am sure at least two PCs would have died.
They returned to the Lorrimor house to rest and recover (their base of operations because there is NO WAY they are staying in that prison). They are awakened during the night by a knock on the door followed by a scream. They rush downstairs to find the Professor has come back and is carrying off Kendra. They quickly "kill" him and take her back to the house.
They hide the Professor's body until morning and get Father Grimburrow to take him back to the graveyard. They sit with Kendra while she is in a coma. They don't know it yet, but she will be out for 3 days.
I expect them to wait out the entire three days until she recovers. At the end of which the town hall meeting will take place. Then they will return to Harrowstone to tackle the basement. I expect that to take at least two days or more to wrap up.
I expect the entire adventure to take about three weeks in game. Which leaves them just over a week to recover and rest and enjoy their victory.