Scenic White Rock Lake Park - A Salute to FTLOTL

A Salute to

In 1995, impatient with an apparent lack of progress during the five years since the 1990 White Rock Lake Park Master Plan was adopted, a collection of concerned Dallas citizens formed a grass-roots activist organization called For the Love of the Lake (FTLOTL). Working in partnership with the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department, this group has been, and continues to be, responsible for a number of park improvements. One of its most enduring and visible activities, began in April 1996, is a monthly "Second Saturday Shoreline Spruce-up," when volunteers patrol the lakeshore, picking up litter while a "Flotsam Flotilla" of volunteers in canoes and kayaks scours the lake itself for floating trash. By the end of 2001, the group boasted 3,500 volunteers and a legacy of service and lakeside improvements that includes 480 new trash receptacles, 17 water fountains, 2 lighted information marquees, 32 benches, a workout center, and new playground equipment at Tee Pee Hill.

In recent years, the group has also hosted an annual concert by folk musician John McCutcheon, for the purpose of raising money to achieve the organization's aims. Earlier concerts were held at Winfrey Point but in 2003 the venue moved to the new Trammell Crow Center at the Dallas Arboretum. It was the first event of that kind to take place there. One of the principal purposes of the 2003 concert was to raise money for a statue commemorating the contributions to the infrastructure of White Rock Lake Park by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a goal that was more than met. At the concert, two men who served in the CCC at White Rock Lake were present. In the spring of 2004, in cooperation with the Dallas Park and Recreation Department, the group expects to erect the CCC commemorative statue at Sunset Bay.

FTLOTL has also agreed to sponsor and pay the cost of four Texas Historical Commission markers at White Rock Lake Park. These will commemorate the building of the dam and lake in 1911, the CCC camp at Winfrey Point, and the 1930 bathhouse and boathouse structures.

Below are photos of just a few of the improvements for which park visitors can thank FTLOTL.

To see larger images, click on the "thumbnails."

Playground Equipment	Don't Litter Sign	Trash Receptacles	East Shore Marquee	West Shore Marquee
Bird ID Sign	Shoreline Spruce-up	Planter	Workout Equipment	Shoreline Bench

THANKS FTLOTL!