Quiet Waters Park

From hiking to windsurfing, concert series to sculptures, Annapolis-area parks offer a variety of recreational and entertainment opportunities, many taking advantage of access to the Chesapeake Bay and others of the area's historic heritage. Sandy Point State Park Windsurfing is among the most popular activities at Sandy Point, a 786-acre park at 1100 College Parkway off U.S. 50 and 301 on the Chesapeake Bay. Thousands of people go to the park to picnic, fish, crab, watch birds, hike and boat, said Sgt. Fran Gower, park ranger supervisor.

The Annapolis Opera will begin its new season Sept. 22 with a free concert of light opera at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis, where those attending can subscribe to the 2001-2002 season. If ever a season was designed to appeal to opera newcomers, this one is nearly perfect with its offering of Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme, one of the world's most popular operas, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni, frequently called Mozart's best. The Annapolis Opera season also offers the traditional holiday concert "Mozart by Candlelight"; the annual vocal competition; and "Pasta, Puccini and Verdi," the dinner concert fund-raiser.

Amid the rise and swell of a green, rolling meadow at Quiet Waters Park sits a ship like no other. Its hull is woven of raw wood, its sail is a living tree and its engine is the imagination of those who board it. The vessel is the latest work of Al Zaruba, a Baltimore sculptor who, with the help of volunteers, has been building the outdoor exhibit as part of Sculpture at Quiet Waters Park, a biennial outdoor sculpture exhibition sponsored by the Anne...

Owens taking course in emergency first aid from fire department County Executive Janet S. Owens will be trained in emergency first aid by the county fire department. At the department training facility in Millersville, she will learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation and how to use a defibrillator. "The defibrillators are in county buildings, and she felt it was important that she learn what they're all about," said Owens' spokesman, Matt Diehl. "Everyone should be trained, and the county executive is taking the lead."

Despite a planning blunder with Annapolis that nearly ambushed the area's first Latino festival, set for today at the county-owned Quiet Waters Park, festival organizers and city officials say they will try to work together next year to stage the festival in the state capital. "We have to go constructively forward. We have no intention [of] wasting time finding blame with the city," said Rick Ferrell, Cuban-American president of the Organization of Hispanic/Latin Americans of Anne Arundel County (OHLA)

The first Annapolis Latino festival - denied a permit by the city - was rescued yesterday by county government, and will go on almost as planned Sunday, organizers said. Instead of the city-owned Truxtun Park, however, the event will take place at the county-owned Quiet Waters Park, courtesy of Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens and her Department of Recreation and Parks. Festival Annapo-Latina, sponsored by the Organization of Hispanic/Latin Americans of Anne Arundel County (OHLA)

The winning images from this year's county Department of Recreation and Parks photography contest are on display through Dec. 6 at the B&A Trail Park's Earleigh Heights Road headquarters and ranger station. All of the photos were taken at Anne Arundel recreation and parks facilities, and the winners received prizes and gift certificates supported by donations from Severna Park Photo and the "Friends" organizations of Downs, Quiet Waters, the B&A Trail, Lake Waterford and Kinder Farm parks, and Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary.

AROUND THE HARBOR D'Angelo at Pier Six Groove to soul sounds mixed with hip-hop rhythms when D'Angelo performs tonight at the Pier Six Concert Pavilion on President Street. Lucy Pearl opens the concert at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Pavilion seats are $45; the lawn is $10. Call 410-481-SEAT. Hard Crab Derby Get your fill of crabs this Labor Day weekend at the 53rd annual Hard Crab Derby and Fair at Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield. For three days, you can enjoy music, rides, games, crafts, a parade, fireworks, steamed crabs and plenty of other seafood.

Barge House Museum to receive $10,000 to fund bay exhibits The Barge House Museum in Annapolis will receive $10,000 as part of the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Initiative, a federal program to bolster the bay's natural, cultural and recreational resources. The museum was one of the initiative's first 23 grant recipients announced last week, 10 of which are in Maryland. The grant will help the Barge House create a waterfront access site and install interpretive exhibits focusing on bay oysters, according to an announcement by the office of U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, a Maryland Democrat.

The summer concert series at Quiet Waters Park begins at 6 p.m. Saturday with operetta and musical comedy favorites by the Annapolis Opera.The program, to feature some of the most beloved melodies by operetta's greatest composers, might well be called "It's a Grand Night for Singing," the Rodgers and Hammerstein tune from "State Fair," that will open and close the evening. Among other favorites the opera will perform are Victor Herbert's "Will You Remember" from "Maytime," "Art is Calling for Me" from "Enchantress," Sigmund Romberg's "Serenade" and "Deep in My Heart," from "Student Prince" and "One Kiss" from "New Moon."