In celebration of Mother’s Day, we’d love for you to post photos of your favorite Columbia Moms. Tell us in the post what you love about her, why she is special, and how she’s made a difference in the Columbia community.
We’ll take all the photos submitted and create a collage of the fabulous Mothers in our community.
All submissions will be entered into a drawing to win some #CMD50 swag,
The two-pronged grand opening – a Dedication and the Grounds for Celebration Festival – of the Chrysalis, a 21st century amphitheatre and community space, high performance stage, public park pavilion and urban scale sculpture immediately adjacent to the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
Soaring 60 feet high and enveloping 5,000 square feet, the $6.6 million Chrysalis is developed, owned and managed by the not-for-profit Inner Arbor Trust. Planning, funding, design, entitlements and construction were led by Strategic Leisure. Architecture, engineering and construction responsibilities were primarily fulfilled by Marc Fornes THEVERYMANY, Arup, A. Zahner Company, Living Design Lab, Mahan Rykiel Associates, Gutschick, Little & Weber, Whiting-Turner Construction Company and Development Management Group.
The Dedication is set for Saturday, April 22 at 11 a.m. with tours, followed by a dedication ceremony at noon and an opportunity at 1 p.m. to meet the creative team behind the new performance venue. The Dedication is free and open to the public.
A ticketed Grounds for Celebration Festival with 8 acts, 12 performances and 500 minutes of music is scheduled from 2:30-11 p.m. Performances include:
2:30 – Bele Bele Drum Collective
3 – Alex Brown Trio
4:15 – Hambone
4:30 – Bele Bele Drum Collective
5:15 – Dirty Grass Players
5:30 – Ron Holloway Band
6:45 – Hambone
7 – Dirty Grass Players
7:45 – Letitia VanSant Trio
8 – The Wharf Rats, Live!
9:15 – Letitia VanSant Trio
9:30 – Chopteeth
Admission to the Grounds for Celebration Festival is $20 (which includes fees and parking), free for attendees under 16. Buy tickets at www.MerriweatherMusic.com. Festival attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets and are invited to bring picnic food. One sealed bottle of water is allowed per person but no other beverages are permitted on the grounds.
Ellicott City, Maryland—Join the Howard County Public School’s Fine Arts Program in celebrating Columbia’s 50th birthday at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 23, 2017, at Merriweather Post Pavilion.
This free event will feature student performers from Howard County’s 12 public high schools taking the stage to honor Jim Rouse’s legacy of community, collaboration, integration, diversity, vision and human values. The performances will feature vocal and instrumental music, dance, and other fine arts.
A limited number of Pavilion seating tickets are available for family members of the student performers. The student performers will receive their tickets from their high school. Lawn seating is also available and does not require a ticket or registration.
Along with HCC, Howard County Government, and the Columbia 50th Birthday Board, we are creating a “Scholarship Forest” right on HCC’s campus. To accomplish this, the county is providing 50 trees ranging in height from 2-6 ft. to be 
planted in the newly created “Scholarship Forest” located in the area between lot A and Duncan Hall. You can get an idea of the types of trees that will be featured in the “Scholarship Forest”at the GreenFest event on April 22, and plant your own tree if you choose to.
Each tree is eligible to be “named” by a donor with a gift of $1,000, and all funds will be placed in a Columbia 50th Scholarship Forest Endowment. Selling all 50 trees will provide a $50,000 endowment to help students who are Howard County residents with financial need… in perpetuity. The endowment will earn interest, and each year the interest is awarded to students as scholarships.
But wait! You’re not only helping students in need, as a donor you get a little recognition too. A plaque will be created listing the name of each donor who purchased a tree. Don’t need to have your name on a plaque? You can also honor someone specific, your family, or list your business or organization. This plaque will be placed in Duncan Hall near the exit closest to lot A so donors can look out and see the “Scholarship Forest” at the same time.
Trees can be sponsored for $1,000.
Email Missy Mattey for more information.
Founder’s Day Event Celebrates Rouse Legacy May 9
Biographer and Professor of Urban Planning Featured
Community members are invited to attend “Founder’s Day: A celebration of the vision, leadership and legacy of James Rouse “ on Tuesday, May 9, from 9 a.m.-noon, in Smith Theater, Howard Community College (HCC). The event is being presented by the Columbia 50th Birthday Celebration and HCC. It is free and open to the public.
“The vision for Columbia was to create a ‘better city,’ and James Rouse established the foundation for that ‘better city,’ but the success of Columbia is up to the people living and working in Columbia today,” explained organizer Barbara Kellner, Director of the Columbia Archives. “Founder’s Day gives everyone a chance to explore the possibilities with other community leaders.”
Biographer Josh Olsen, author of “Better Places, Better Lives: A Biography of James Rouse,” will serve as moderator for the morning’s activities, and Harvard Professor of Urban Planning Ann Forsyth is the keynote speaker. Her topic is “Health and Well-Being in Columbia: Early Aims and Future Potential.”
Following Forsyth’s presentation, she will moderate a roundtable discussion featuring Ian Kennedy, Executive Director of the Downtown Columbia Arts and culture Commission; Nikki Highsmith Vernick, President & CEO of The Horizon Foundation; Heather Kirk-Davidoff, Enabling Minister, Kittamaqundi Community Church; and former Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, President of Margrave Strategies. They will look at “Going Forward: Today’s Answers to Creating a Better City.”
The event is free but registration is encouraged.
Columbia Association is offering its Buy-a-Brick program for the first time in five years, this time with special bricks in honor of Columbia’s 50th Birthday celebration taking place in 2017.
A section of the plaza at the Downtown Columbia Lakefront will be reserved for bricks placed around a large paver reading “Columbia Maryland 50.” There is also an option to purchase bricks for placement in other areas of the plaza.
The opportunity to purchase a brick will continue through Feb. 24, 2017. Bricks are $100 for placement in the 50th Birthday section and $75 for placement in other areas of the plaza. Bricks can have up to three lines of text, with 15 characters per line; spaces between words count as a character. CA cannot guarantee that those purchasing multiple bricks will have them placed next to each other.
Bricks may be purchased online at ColumbiaAssociation.org/bricks or by downloading the form and bringing it with payment to CA’s Customer and Member Service Center, 6310 Hillside Court, located off Stevens Forest Road near the county vehicle emissions inspection station. The form and payment may also be mailed to Columbia Association, C&M Brick Program, 6310 Hillside Court, Columbia, MD 21046.
Certificates are available to download and present as a gift to others.
For additional information, please contact Christina Pierre at 410-423-4102 or Christina.Pierre@ColumbiaAssociation.org.
YES!
We look forward to participating in Columbia’s 50th Celebration in 2017
