Lakefront

Nineteen films, including the Baltimore-area premiere of director Rob Reiner's "Flipped," will be shown as part of the 40th annual Columbia Lakefront Film Festival, organizers announced Saturday. The free festival, held at the Columbia lakefront off Little Patuxent Parkway, opens June 17 with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One" and closes Aug. 22 with "Despicable Me. " Movies are scheduled for every Monday and Friday evening, except for July 4. Parking is free, and all films begin at dusk, usually around 8:30 p.m. The PG-rated "Flipped," released to a limited theatrical run and based on the young-adult novel by Wendelin Van Draanen, is the story of two middle-schoolers (Madeleine Carroll and Callan McAuliffe)

What better honor than to be voted the best of the best by your customers and colleagues? In August, we asked Howard Magazine readers to tell us the most notable businesses, people and places from Marriottsville to Savage and from Elkridge to Clarksville. Here are the results of how our readers voted. Annual Festival Event Winner: Wine in the Woods Honorable mention: Columbia Festival of the Arts Howard County Fair Highland Days Symphony of Lights   Place to Buy Antiques Winner: Historic Savage Mill Honorable mention: Westwood Antiques Historic Ellicott City Abode   Art Gallery Winner: Gallery 44 Honorable mention: Artists' Gallery Bernice Kish Gallery at Slayton House Howard County Center for the Arts   Place for Auto Repair Winner: Hillmuth Certified Automotive Honorable mention: British American Auto Care O'Donnell Honda Ken's Service Center   Bakery Winner: Touche Touchet Bakery & Pastry Shoppe Honorable mention: Great Harvest Bread Co. Panera Bread Oh, What A Cake!

Latin and Caribbean bands and Irish and East Indian dancers will shake up Columbia's lakefront tomorrow as party-goers from all over celebrate the first Columbia International Day.The free event, highlighting the town's diversity, also will feature ethnic foods, arts and crafts and international displays. In addition, five multicultural films will be shown at the Harper's Choice Village Center -- with discussions afterwards."The Columbia Council decided this would be a great year to celebrate our diversity and the fact we are an international city," said Maggie J. Brown, vice president of community services for the Columbia Association, which is co-sponsoring the event.

If you have lived in Columbia for a while, you've probably come into contact with Tom Brzezinski, better known as Mr. B. In 1968, he became the first media specialist hired for a Columbia school, Bryant Woods Elementary in Wilde Lake. Now working at Clemens Crossing Elementary School, Brzezinski celebrated his 35th year with Howard County public schools in the spring. Mr. B is famous for the costumes he wears to help inspire a love for literature in his pupils. A trip to the media center at Clemens Crossing may find Brzezinski dressed as "Farmer B" or "Bunny B," and at Halloween, he'll be the one dressed as "Count B," playing the song "The Monster Mash" for the school parade.

When celebrity couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds were wed in a secret ceremony this year, the actors skipped the splashy Hollywood venue. Instead, their reported 17th-century location in South Carolina boasted an onsite mansion, gardens and a working farm, a setting described as "rustic" and "romantic. " These days, you don't have to be a celebrity or VIP to hold your wedding, party or special event someplace that's fabulous or out of the ordinary. Thanks to a wave of specialty companies, websites and other experts, renting private properties — such as mansions and upscale homes — has become easier and increasingly popular.

More than 40 years ago, James W. Rouse dreamed the dream that became Columbia and then made that dream come true. But in recent years, there has been no public memorial to Rouse in the city he created. But tomorrow, people walking along Lake Kittamaqundi in Town Center will get the chance to see again Columbia's most important citizen. A bronze sculpture of the visionary developer, who died in 1996, will be unveiled during Columbia's International Day celebration on the lakefront. A statue of his older brother, Willard G. Rouse, who was executive vice president of the Rouse Co., will stand nearby.

It looked as if a movie musical had broken out in the middle of an ordinary evening at the Columbia lakefront. Rows of enthusiastic dancers moved in unison on the brick sidewalk while diners ate their meals on Clydes' patio, families strolled with their children and teens congregated along the wooden pier. Outdoor dancing is a familiar sight on Friday nights during the summer when Tatia Zack leads party dances, line dances and couple's dances under the People Tree as part of the Columbia Association's three-month-long Lakefront Summer Festival.

You can see James W. Rouse's fingerprints all over Columbia, but you can't see him. A statue of the town's founder, who died in 1996, has been tucked away in storage closets for about 2 1/2 years, forced out of sight by vandalism and indecision. The wait has been long and perhaps a little undignified for a man revered for welcoming people of all races, faiths and incomes to his new town. Locked up with the sculpture in a Columbia Art Center storage area is a companion statute of Rouse's elder brother Willard G. Rouse, who was executive vice president of the Rouse Co. The bronze little brother holds court, punctuating some point with an extended right hand.

Columbia's core, which is in the early stages of redevelopment, is the territory for a trio of walking tours organized by the Columbia Association's Columbia Archives. The WalkAlong event will take place Saturday, May 4, and participants can choose one of three routes. The guided tours, which last about two hours, will depart from the Columbia Archives (at 10227 Wincopin Circle) at 10 a.m. One tour will focus on the architecture of Frank Gehry, including Merriweather Post Pavilion and the former Rouse Co. headquarters.