Columbia Festival

Murphy, DeSanti join arts festival Leigh Murphy has been hired as fundraising coordinator for the Columbia Festival of the Arts. She will be responsible for coordinating corporate sponsor and individual donor fundraising for the 2008 season, which is to be held June 13-28. Murphy was director of special events for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Metropolitan D.C. Chapter, and was special events coordinator for the Montgomery County Humane Society in Rockville. She was also director of humane education and public relations/volunteer coordinator for the Montgomery County Humane Society.

Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center has resumed operation of its cold-weather shelter program for homeless people in Howard County. This year, 14 churches are to provide shelter for one or two weeks from now through March 16. Church volunteers will also provide meals, transportation, clothing, medicine and laundry services for those in need, including families, who are unable to get into the Grassroots shelter because it is full. Grassroots provides the county's only shelter for homeless people.

Steve Drakos has been volunteering at Columbia festivals for the past 20 years. But yesterday's fair marking the Howard County community's 40th birthday gave him the opportunity to reflect on what Columbia means to him. "Lots of people in communities, they grow up there," said Drakos, 55, a resident for 34 years. "Columbia was all new people, and it's kept with its original vision of ethnic diversity, socioeconomic diversity." That diversity was the unofficial theme yesterday as people of all ages and nationalities gathered for the 40th Birthday Celebration City Fair along the shore of Lake Kittamaqundi.

The 20th anniversary celebration of the Columbia Festival of the Arts began over the weekend with LakeFest, which featured free performances, exhibitions and activities at Columbia Town Center. The three-day outdoor event featured live music from more than 20 bands, a kinetic art parade, a crafts mart and fireworks displays.

LakeFest -- The 20th anniversary celebration of the Columbia Festival of the Arts begins with LakeFest, a free weekend of performances, exhibitions, and activities, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. today, noon to 11 p.m. tomorrow and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Columbia Lakefront. Making an Entrance - Opening Doors to the Future, a public art exhibit and sale of functional wooden doors transformed by artists, will be on display. Art and crafts will be for sale at ArtPark from noon to 7 p.m. tomorrow and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

The Columbia Festival of the Arts has built a reputation for bringing new acts to familiar Columbia venues. This year, the organizers are presenting some familiar groups in new ways to celebrate the event's 20th anniversary. The festival is pairing renowned fiddler, violinist and composer Mark O'Connor with the Columbia Orchestra on Sunday, and the Columbia Pro Cantare will join the Minnesota Dance Theatre's performance of Carmina Burana on June 15. The festival has long offered opportunities to local performing groups and visual artists, particularly at the free LakeFest event, in workshops and at smaller venues.

Some time after 8 p.m. on June 23, a 10-foot, inflatable beach ball painted to resemble a globe will descend from the ceiling of the James Rouse Theatre, lowered by members of Squonk Opera. As the ball drops, audience members may notice that a detailed map of Columbia adorns this miniature world. If past experience is any guide, theatergoers will begin to bat the globe around, giving a different twist to the official city motto, "It's all here, now." COLUMBIA: THE OPERA / / 8 p.m. June 23 / / Wilde Lake High School, Columbia / / 410-715-3089 Columbia Festival highlights The Columbia Festival of the Arts, which opens Wednesday, runs through June 23. Here are a few highlights: LakeFest: The three-day festival features live performances from musicians and dancers, as well as a craft mart, children's activities and fireworks displays on Friday and Saturday, among many other things.

Columbians just might wear out their party hats and dancing shoes by the time they finish celebrating the planned community's 40th birthday with 40 days of activities, but organizers are determined to incorporate a wide range of events between Wednesday and July 15. "It is a total spectrum," said Barbara Nicklas, chairwoman of the 40-Day Event Committee and a vice president of General Growth Properties. "It seems like hardly a day goes by that someone doesn't get in touch with us and ask how they can be part of this event.