Celebration

The 26th annual Columbia Festival of the Arts once again brings an impressive roster of performers to Howard County from June 14 to 29. Some of these performers are returning favorites, while others are first-timers. Some will take a bow on their own, while others will collaborate with homegrown talent. All of them are booked by the festival in order to provide memorable artistic experiences for local audiences. "We have 16 days to present things you might not see anywhere else in the region," says Columbia Festival of the Arts executive director Nichole Hickey.

This weekend, June 8 and 9, Little Falls Friends Meeting in Fallston will celebrate the 275th anniversary of its founding. Speakers, tours, exhibits and printed histories will be brought together to share with the community the remarkable Quaker heritage of Harford County. Little Falls Friends Meeting is at 719 Old Fallston Road in the heart of the Fallston village. For more information, visit http://www.littlefallsfriends.org . Among the speakers will be Christopher Densmore, curator of the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College, and Charles Cherry, of Villanova University, who will speak on William Penn, Man of Peace.

When Rep. Chris Van Hollen struck up a conversation recently with a U.S. Capitol Police officer he sees every day on his way to work, he immediately learned two things about the man: He's from Baltimore and he's a huge Ravens fan. And so the Montgomery County Democrat took a break Wednesday from the budget battles playing out in Congress to take Officer Aaron Smith to the White House, where President Barack Obama honored the Super Bowl ...

Throughout my 25-plus years living in the Laurel area, I have always wondered why the community's Memorial Day service is not held on Memorial Day. It is particularly disheartening for those of us who are military veterans but are never able to participate because we attend church on Sunday morning. Steve Hubbard Laurel Mike Sellner, Laurel Volunteer Fire Department, replies: Since 1975, the Memorial Day Service at Ivy Hill has always been held on the Sunday prior to Memorial Day Monday.

From the prayer book she carried to the flower petals she kept pressed inside its pages, Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange has long been a vivid presence at the headquarters of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the order of African-American Catholic nuns she founded in Baltimore in 1829. Now pilgrims and worshippers can get even closer to Lange. As part of a campaign to have her declared a saint, church officials received and reinterred her remains at the order's mother church in Relay on Monday.

NFL Redskins' Kettani to celebrate promotion to Navy lieutenant Washington Redskins fullback Eric Kettani , a 2009 Navy graduate, will celebrate his promotion from lieutenant junior grade to lieutenant Monday at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va. Kettani has asked head coach Mike Shanahan and assistant head coach/running backs coach Bobby Turner to do the honor of pinning insignia denoting his new officer rank on his uniform before...

Wedding date: April 20, 2013 Tom's story: Tom Gloss, 59, grew up in Buffalo, N.Y. He is a retired federal employee. His mother, Wilma, is a homemaker and his father, Norman Gloss Sr., is deceased. Jim's story: Jim Flower, 63, grew up in LaSalle, Ill. He owns James E. Flower Insurance Agency in Owings Mills. His mother, Darlene, and his father, James E. Flower Sr., are deceased. Their story: Tom and Jim met in July 2001. Both had been previously married, gotten divorces and were looking for love.

Some two dozen Baltimore restaurants are adding special soft-shell crab specials to their menus for Baltimore's fifth annual Soft-Shell Crab Celebration. The restaurant promotion , sponsored by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, will run Friday through June 2. The participating restaurants include Alexander's Tavern, The Black Olive, Diamond Tavern, Grille 700, J. Paul's, Kona Grill , Miss Shirley's, Pabu, The Oceanaire, Phillips Seafood, Regi's American Bistro, Roy's, Ryleigh's Oyster, Ten Ten, Townhouse Kitchen & Bar and Vino Rosina.

"We cherish too, the Poppy red / That grows on fields where valor led, / It seems to signal to the skies / That blood of heroes never dies. " - "We Shall Keep the Faith" by Moina Michael For many Marylanders, Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. It is a day marked with trips to the beach, backyard cookouts, baseball games, community pool openings and, for the next 90 days or so, paying attention to Friday afternoon traffic reports detailing the backup at the Bay Bridge.

As you must know, May 22 is Richard Wagner's 200th birthday, and, as you must have guessed, Midweek Madness couldn't let that milestone go unturned. In fact, it will take at least three posts to do justice to this musical genius (and repugnant human specimen). Part 1 just had to be delivered by Bugs and Elmer -- predictable, yes, but still essential.