Signed up for the beta a few weeks ago, and at that point it seemed as if it was likely that the site would hit beta soon after; which it did. Found out the site was in beta by return to the Area-51 page for the site just now.
Should I have gotten a ping to let me know that the site was now in beta, since it appears that I did not get one? If this is the default, seems like a pretty odd way to launch a site, though pretty sure on another beta I got an email, though don't recall getting a ping via SE's inbox or achievements alerts; which to me would make more sense than an email alert.