Free Lunch
Dallas offers free tickets to teens for waterpark and other summer events
It looks empty now but that won't last long.
The city of Dallas is opening its recreation facilities to teens for free, including its prized Bahama Beach Waterpark.
The offering is part of its Teen All Access Pass program, which gives one teen and a limited number of companions free entry to Dallas museums, nature and botanical gardens, outdoor entertainment venues, and leisure facilities in July and August.
The passes will become available on Monday, July 3 at 10 am, when the Dallas Park and Recreation Department will make 10,000 passes available on a first-come, first-serve basis only to Dallas residents 13 to 17 years old.
To get the passes, teens must register in person at a Dallas recreation center during regular business hours and show proof of Dallas residency. Pass details, center locations, and a list of venues are at DallasParks.org.
Recreation centers will be closed on Tuesday, July 4 because July 4th, but they'll reopen on Wednesday, July 5 at 9 am to resume distribution of the 10,000 free tix.
In a statement, Mayor Eric L. Johnson reminds us that this is a wildly successful returning program that's been offered for the past two years.
"This program is one of many tools our city is leveraging to give Dallas kids and teens the opportunity to keep cool, get active, expand their knowledge, and most importantly, stay safe this summer. Engaging Dallas’ youth during the summer months will lead us further down the path toward our goal of becoming the safest major city in the United States," he says.
The following facilities will be free to these pass holders, including the Sixth Floor Museum, which is joining for the first time this year:
- African American Museum at Fair Park
- Bahama Beach Waterpark
- City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture
- Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
- Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum
- Dallas Public Library
- Golf Dallas
- Shakespeare Dallas
- Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
- Southern Skates Roller Rink
- Trinity River Audubon Center
Those are all perfectly good and great but Bahama Beach Waterpark is clearly the winner.
Dallas Park and Recreation officials said the pass is an adventure for teens because it opens a new horizon of opportunities outside of school time. Also, the pass gives them activities they can do to celebrate July as National Park and Recreation Month along with park and recreation agencies nationwide.
