Lakefront

No one knows how it got started, but a rumor sprang up a few years ago that Columbia's first movie theater -- the small, 25-year-old, three-screen General Cinema Columbia City 3 on Lake Kittamaqundi -- would soon be turned into a cinema house showing art films.Instead of delivering the latest Hollywood blockbusters, the aging movie house would present independent and foreign films, more intimate artistic fare that would appeal to an older, more refined crowd that hungered for an alternative cinematic experience.

With most of the East Coast still tucked in bed, Elizabeth Snell snuggled in a purple parka in the pre-dawn chill as she and 300 fellow worshipers flocked to Columbia's lakefront.Roman Catholics, Baptists, Quakers, Methodists, Lutherans, black and white: There were no dividing lines at this interfaith sunrise Easter service marking one of the holiest events of Christianity -- the dawn discovery that Christ had risen from the grave."There's nothing like this in the world," said Snell, 58, who runs an auto transmission business.

Bob White wants you to buy his vacation home.It's near a lake and a ski resort. But alas, his family doesn't need it anymore - hasn't since he first put it on the market six years ago. But the Poconos are flooded with 4,000 other vacation homes competing for the buyer's attention. And so, he waits."I'd like to get rid of it, but I'm not willing to take a huge loss," said White, whose six-bedroom house is listed at $129,000.Supply and demand for second homes in the Poconos, although more extreme, is no different than other major ski resort areas within 200 miles of Baltimore.

25 years ago (week of August 15-21, 1971):Concerned about rumors of a curfew being imposed on the lakefront area at Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia, some of the teen-agers who liked to congregate in the area began a self-policing action. Forming a group called "The Committee to Keep the Lake Open," the young people distributed fliers asking people to behave properly. Committee members also picked up trash in the lakefront area.50 years ago (week of August 11-17, 1946):The Highland 4-H Club met at the home of Sally Sullivan.

You never know what you'll see at Columbia's Lakefront on "Open Stage Night."One Tuesday, you might catch a glimpse of a 74-year-old interpretive dancer. Or a multigenerational crowd clapping to the beat of a rendition of "Those Were the Days." Or the debut of a teen-age psychedelic-funk-jazz ensemble.Earlier this summer, one man even rose to sing a marriage proposal.Sometimes the performers themselves don't know what will happen on stage. Guitarist Don Bridges and singer Bobbi Bland were in the middle of a song when an anonymous harmonica player got up on stage and accompanied them.

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.

The arts come alive in Columbia today when the Seventh Annual Columbia Festival of the Arts -- 10 days of music, theater, dance and the visual arts -- gets under way. The festival, which runs through June 25, will feature performances at 11 venues around town, including free concerts, activities and crafts exhibits at the Lakefront in Columbia's Town Center.Among the many performers scheduled are jazz singers Casscheduled are jazz singers Cassandra Wilson and Diane Schuur, the Uptown String Quartet, the imaginative dance-acrobatic-mime group Pilobolus, jazz pianist and composer George Shearing, actress Claire Bloom, folk singer Judi Tal and author Mary Gordon.

The arts come alive in vibrant style in Columbia this week when the seventh annual Columbia Festival of the Arts -- 10 days of music, theater, dance and the visual arts -- gets under way. Scheduled from Friday through June 25, the festival will feature performances at 11 venues, including free concerts, activities and crafts exhibits at the Lakefront in Columbia's Town Center.Among the many performers scheduled are jazz singers Cassandra Wilson and Diane Schuur, the Uptown String Quartet, the imaginative dance-acrobatic-mime group Pilobolus, jazz pianist and composer George Shearing, actress Claire Bloom, folk singer Judi Tal and author Mary Gordon.

A California-based chain will open a restaurant Friday in the Columbia lakefront building once used to showcase the new town's model home plans and amenities.Fresh Choice, which bills itself as an "upscale, self-service-style restaurant" with soup, salad and pasta bars, is expected to hire at least 60 employees, said Stephen Robinson, general manager of the restaurant.The opening is part of the Rouse Co.'s plans to enliven downtown Columbia by bringing restaurants to the area around Lake Kittamaqundi, officials said.

About 20 years ago, Bryant Woods Elementary media specialist Tom Brzezinski came up with a way to help school kids and their parents pass the lazy summer evenings. He rented movies and showed them on a projector at a local park.The success of this one-man film fest caught the attention of Columbia Association officials, who invited Mr. Brzezinski to screen the flicks at Lake Kittamaqundi.The rest, as they say in the movies, is history. This summertime community gathering has evolved into the CA's popular Lakefront Summer Festival, the outdoor series of free films and concerts that began last week.