Along the edge of Lake Kittamaqundi, a throng of fairgoers at this year’s Columbia Festival of the Arts defied a spattering of rain Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a community that has never quite fit in.

“This started out to be the ‘new America.’ That was Jim Rouse’s vision,” Festival Executive Director Nichole Hickey said.

“If you just have homes … you really don’t have a community with arts and entertainment.”

This year’s festival isn’t as idolatrous of Rouse, the famed developer and founder of this “new America” in Columbia, as it is of his vision — a place for racial and socioeconomic harmony, where artistic programming and entertainment are accessible to all.

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The artistic element of that vision is especially important, Hickey said, as Columbia rings in its 40th anniversary with a 40-day birthday celebration, of which the arts festival is a key component.

To Hickey, her staff and the residents of Columbia, the programming and the activities — the “shared experience,” she calls it — are what make Columbia special.

“We feel that we perpetuate that goal by the diversity of our programming,” she said.

J.D. Thompson, who coordinates the arts and crafts at the festival and who was there for its genesis 20 years ago, added that it was “important to get art out to the public,” as a reminder of what Columbia stands for.

This year’s festival is doing something unique — putting internationally renowned acts on the same stage as homegrown troupes.

As second and third generations move in and out of Columbia, many unfamiliar with the community’s founding principles, sustaining the community’s rich cultural history during the 40-day celebration is especially important, Hickey said.

“Obviously it’s not going to be the same community it was 40 years ago,” Hickey said. “But there’s still that sense of community.”

As she stood above the crowd at this weekend’s LakeFest, Hickey saw a living, breathing, singular entity — a cohesive community.

“They’re just in awe, and they’re all feeling that sense of awe,” she said. “It’s a shared experience. That builds community in my mind.”

sgentile@baltimoreexaminer.com