Arcadia

To the ancient Greeks, Arcadia was a place of pastoral peace and simplicity. For most of the year, that's the way of life in Baltimore County's village of Arcadia, too.But during summer and early fall, the one-street rural community rocks and rolls as the volunteer fire company stages one event after another, and just about everybody joins in.In late July, crowds throng tree-lined Arcadia Avenue in front of the big turn-of-the century houses, as marching bands...

A trio of junkers gang up against a station wagon, the kind with the wood paneling. They take turns smashing it head-on and crashing its sides, until the crumpled metal heap is pinned against a dirt wall. Some local guys nose-dive their cars from a makeshift ramp into a dead man's limo, and a hair stylist blithely walks away from her burning Oldsmobile. An engineering student turns to the dairy aisle for an auto repair trick that he calls "egg drop soup." All in all, it's the perfect setting, one man decides, to propose to his girlfriend.

Every September, thousands park the family car and happily trot away from dependable '90s automotive technology, eyes searching for another sight: puffs of steam, the chug and sputter of cumbersome engines, and heavy whirling wheels painted in carnival color.These people have come to celebrate one part of the history of machines at the Steam Show of the Maryland Steam Historical Society at the Arcadia Exposition Grounds. This year, from Sept. 15 through 18, the 39th show will take place.The show packs the acreage with antique engines powered by steam or gas. Most of them are put to the test: threshing, saw-milling, shingle sawing, or the ever-popular pulling of wagons loaded with children and their parents.

THE ARCADIA of ancient Greece was pastoral and isolated, a simple and untroubled place. Some considered it paradise. The Arcadia of Northeast Baltimore isn't bad, either. It's bordered by Herring Run Park on the south, with Lake Montebello nearby, and - I only mention this because tomorrow's the holiday in his honor - it features the oldest monument to Christopher Columbus in the United States, and one of three in Baltimore. (Did we go overboard for this guy, or what? And Italians love to give props to Columbus when it was the Spanish, for cryin' out loud, who gave the guy his ships and his funding.

You might expect Kathleen Kotarba, Baltimore's head of architectural preservation, to live in one of the city's most recognized havens of preserved architecture: Mount Vernon, Bolton Hill or Roland Park. But Kotarba doesn't call any of these home; instead she has chosen Arcadia, the Northeast Baltimore community that is not as well known as some of the other city addresses. "We moved here because we really loved the architecture and the setting next to Herring Run Park," says Kotarba, who has lived in Arcadia for more than 20 years.

Carnivals entertain everyone on summertime evenings. They're so popular that firemen's carnivals are a Carroll County tradition. Next week, from Monday to Saturday, the Arcadia Volunteer Fire Company will hold its carnival, with rides beginning at 6:30 p.m. every day.The bright lights of the Arcadia carnival grounds are easy to spot, about 5 miles south of Hampstead. If you're traveling south on Route 30, turn left on Arcadia Avenue and left on Carnival Avenue to the grounds that spread behind the firehouse.

Playwright Tom Stoppard, author of such classic works of theater as Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Thing, Rough Crossing, Travesties and The Real Inspector Hound, among others, is best known for his erudite wit and delicious command of the English language. As a screenwriter, his films, such as Empire of the Sun and Shakespeare In Love, have earned high praise from critics and audiences. Columbia's Rep Stage, the professional theater in residence at Howard Community College, is ending its 2003-2004 season with Arcadia, another Stoppard gem. Set in the early 1800s, as well as present day, Arcadia takes the audience on a fascinating journey back and forth between eras to discover answers to an intriguing mystery of love, history and deception that centers on the romantic poet Lord Byron.

William D. Livingston and pals from Hampden headed out to the country one recent Saturday night, fueled by a passion for pop culture, armed with a cooler full of Natty Boh, eager for the chance to poke fun at the locals. But within minutes of arriving at the Arcadia Demolition Derby, Livingston was standing on top of his Igloo, gleefully shouting as cars collided in a cacophony of crunching sheet metal, hissing radiators and flapping tires. This was a battle to the death, and Livingston was seriously hooked.

FIRE* Hampstead: Hampstead, Manchester and Arcadia of Baltimore County responded to a chimney fire on Willow View Court at 9:27 Sunday. Units were out 40 minutes.

In Baltimore County Police identify Arcadia man killed in tractor accident ARCADIA -- Baltimore County police released yesterday the name of a man killed Sunday when a farm tractor he was driving overturned in a creek. Don Baldwin Bruner, 66, of the 16200 block of Trenton Church Road in Arcadia was mowing a field on his property when the tractor fell into a creek, pinning him under 2 feet of water, Baltimore County fire officials said. An autopsy will be conducted, police said. Councilmen, advisory panel to discuss community issues EDGEMERE -- Baltimore County Councilmen John Olszewski of Dundalk and Joseph Bartenfelder of Fullerton will meet tonight with the Southeast Area Educational Advisory Council to discuss community issues.

You might expect Kathleen Kotarba, Baltimore's head of architectural preservation, to live in one of the city's most recognized havens of preserved architecture: Mount Vernon, Bolton Hill or Roland Park. But Kotarba doesn't call any of these home; instead she has chosen Arcadia, the Northeast Baltimore community that is not as well known as some of the other city addresses. "We moved here because we really loved the architecture and the setting next to Herring Run Park," says Kotarba, who has lived in Arcadia for more than 20 years.

"History never embraces more than a small part of reality," said La Rochefoucauld. The maxim is brilliantly illustrated by Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, the current production at Columbia's Rep Stage. Although it offers plenty of Stoppard's customary wit and word play, Arcadia is a philosophical exercise -- an exploration of chaos theory. The dialogue bristles with references to mathematics, physics, philosophy, history, literature and English culture. It will be a rare playgoer (or reviewer)

Playwright Tom Stoppard, author of such classic works of theater as Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Thing, Rough Crossing, Travesties and The Real Inspector Hound, among others, is best known for his erudite wit and delicious command of the English language. As a screenwriter, his films, such as Empire of the Sun and Shakespeare In Love, have earned high praise from critics and audiences. Columbia's Rep Stage, the professional theater in residence at Howard Community College, is ending its 2003-2004 season with Arcadia, another Stoppard gem. Set in the early 1800s, as well as present day, Arcadia takes the audience on a fascinating journey back and forth between eras to discover answers to an intriguing mystery of love, history and deception that centers on the romantic poet Lord Byron.

God returns to prime time tonight. That's the larger news connected to the debut of the new CBS drama Joan of Arcadia, about a high school girl to whom God suddenly starts speaking. It is one of three new network dramas - arriving this fall and midseason - that feature young women who hear voices. It's not clear who exactly is talking to the lead characters in the other two dramas, Tru Calling and Wonderfalls, both of which are on Fox. In Tru Calling, a recent college graduate discovers she can relive a day and uses that newfound power to avoid tragedy.

Although it's commonplace for opera-goers to attend preperformance lectures and study libretti before attending unfamiliar operas, such preparation is seldom part of ordinary theater-going. This changed when Colonial Players Inc. scheduled a challenging work by a major playwright with Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, realizing that audience members might welcome some advance preparation. Winner of the 1993 Laurence Olivier award for best play when it premiered in London, and two years later on Broadway the winner of the New York Drama Critics Award, Stoppard's Arcadia moves beyond the usual human appetites to the desire to know about our surroundings in landscape architecture, thermodynamics, the chaos theory, literature and Romanticism.

William D. Livingston and pals from Hampden headed out to the country one recent Saturday night, fueled by a passion for pop culture, armed with a cooler full of Natty Boh, eager for the chance to poke fun at the locals. But within minutes of arriving at the Arcadia Demolition Derby, Livingston was standing on top of his Igloo, gleefully shouting as cars collided in a cacophony of crunching sheet metal, hissing radiators and flapping tires. This was a battle to the death, and Livingston was seriously hooked.

When thinking of Baltimore City housing, one of the first thoughts that comes to mind is the rowhouse, an icon of urban living. But think of Arcadia, a neighborhood situated in the northeast part of the city, and suburbia comes to the forefront. "Arcadia is one of the quintessential city neighborhoods designed with suburban principles," said Eric Holcomb, a resident and planner with the Baltimore City Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation. This enclave that borders the northern edge of Herring Run Park is a tree-lined, traditional neighborhood and one of the first in the city designed with the automobile in mind.