World After Quarantine

Dallas Arboretum becomes city's first major destination to welcome back visitors

The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden will reopen to the public on June 1.

Photo courtesy of Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden

The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden will reopen to the public on Monday, June 1, becoming the first major Dallas destination to announce it will do so during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

To adapt to the new world we all live in, the Arboretum will employ timed ticketing to provide for the health and safety of guests and employees. The goal of timed ticketing is to help to minimize physical contact and adhere to social distancing guidelines so all visitors can enjoy their visits to the Arboretum.

All reservations will be for four-hour blocks and must be made online in advance for both members and non-members. Colored wristbands will be given to guests upon entering the garden, indicating their exit time. The Arboretum will also assign all guests a parking location to allow for social distancing at the gates and in the parking lots.

"Our top priority is the health and safety of our guests and employees, and these new plans and procedures make that possible," said Mary Brinegar, Dallas Arboretum President and CEO, in a statement. "Requiring time-specific tickets to be purchased online minimizes physical contact and helps us determine the right number of visitors at any one time. We have also created a one-way, one-mile path around the garden to make it easier for our visitors to enjoy our beautiful grounds while social distancing."

Even though the Arboretum is open, all of its buildings will remain closed, including the Hoffman Family Gift Store, A Tasteful Place Test Pavilion, the DeGolyer House, and the Rory Meyers Children's Adventure Garden.

Groups will be limited to no more than five people, and all visitors are encouraged to maintain a six-foot distance from anyone not in their party. A maximum of 1,000 people will be allowed in the garden at any one time during a four-hour block. Visitors will be allowed to bring picnics and lounge on the green spaces within the garden.

In addition, guests are expected to follow the City of Dallas' policy and guidelines for wearing face coverings. Every person over the age of 2 should consider wearing some form of covering over their nose and mouth when within six feet of another person. Finally, only two sets of restrooms will be open; the restrooms will be limited to 25 percent of their capacity and guests will be expected to wear a mask while inside.

Soon after the reopening, the Arboretum will open its summer exhibit, Seward Johnson's "Celebrating the Familiar," a collection of 20 life-size cast bronze figures. Johnson's sculptures of individuals performing familiar tasks in an ordinary life were meant to celebrate the great value in ordinary tasks. The exhibit will open on June 22 and remain on display through July 31.

The Arboretum will have minimal food service available, so visitors are encouraged to bring their own food and beverages, as well as carry out any personal trash when exiting the garden. The water fountains will not be operable, but there is a refillable water filtration system at the main information booth and vending machines with water and Gatorade only will be available near the Camp House in the middle of the garden.

Ticket can be reserved up to seven days in advance, and no tickets will be sold at the gate. To reserve e-tickets, visit the Arboretum's website or call 214-515-6615. Gift certificates or other promotional tickets may be redeemed by calling the office number to reserve a time to visit.

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Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records spins new location in Garland

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

They chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."