WHO NEEDS AN OCEAN?

Each week at White Rock Lake you can see something you probably never thought you would see on a lake: surfers. A group of stand up paddle boarders (SUP) — basically surfers with an oar — have been hitting the lake recently and taking advantage of the waters at White Rock.

Tyler Marshall, the man behind the paddle boarding events and the proprietor of DFW Surf, is one of the early SUP pioneers in north Texas.

“We’ve been doing this since 2007, so almost 10 years,” Marshall says.

Recently his paddle boarding crew started hosting meet-ups at White Rock Lake in conjunction with the Dallas Arboretum’s Cool Thursday Concert Series.

Marshall says it’s a chance to learn how to paddle, “but it’s free to the public, so everyone’s welcome.”

Initially Marshall had plans to do larger events at the lake and charge admission, but the city never approved the idea.

Despite the mix up, the meet-ups will continue on White Rock Lake. Marshall says they are designed to be new user friendly.

People just need to show up ready to get into the lake, Marshall says.

“A lot of people ask, ‘Hey, what do I wear?’ All you need is normal outdoor activity or swimsuit apparel,” Marshall says. “But there’s no swimming in White Rock so if you do fall in you have to get right back on the board. Everything else is taken care of. We have all the equipment and instructors and everything.”

All first timers are asked to show up early, at least 30 minutes, to learn the basics before getting out on the water. A tour of the lake begins at 7 p.m. before returning around sunset at 8:30 p.m.

Marshall says getting people out on the water together — first timers or otherwise — is about creating a communal event. That goal is seeing some success in its early days: Each week about half of the attendees are new to SUP.

And SUP events in north Texas in general have been on the rise.

“There’s a huge Texas paddle racing series. There are going to be about 10 races in Texas this year,” Marshall says. “It’s getting a lot bigger. It’s grown from about 50 to 100 or 150 people racing, depending on the race.”

In addition to the meet-ups, Marshall and his crew also teach beginner and intermediate classes, SUP yoga and surf classes.

If you’re looking for more information on the meet up or SUP, you can visit Marshall’s website, DFWsurf.com.

— STEVE DICKERSON

Their stately mansion was built in 1904 for a cost of $125,000, which would be well over $3 million in today’s dollars.

Designed by Sanguinett & Staats of Fort Worth, the mansion featured seven fireplaces, oak and mahogany wood paneling throughout and a unique Tiffany-inspired stained-glass window depicting a grapevine motif. The front columns were crafted from marble in Italy and shipped to Dallas, but required a specially built carriage to carry them, complete with a team of 20 horses to pull each pillar.

Alexander was a self-made man, unknown to the Dallas business community before he pulled off one of the largest deals ever made with the city. He sold 27 miles of track and equipment to launch the Dallas Consolidated Electric Street Railway, which brought streetcars to the city at the turn of the century and earned him a $500,000 paycheck, according to Electrical World (vol. 31), a series about the history of electrical engineering.

It was somewhat ironic that he made his fortune in electrical transportation before the city had an established power company. When he built his mansion, a generator was included in the design to power the property.

In 1930 the Dallas Woman’s Forum took over the home as its headquarters and has been tending the mansion ever since. Currently, the forum is fundraising to bring in the $200,000 needed to properly fix the roof, which is littered with leaks that threaten the historic home’s stability.

EMILY CHARRIER

Attracting millennials to a Dallas venue is akin to coaxing hummingbirds into your yard: It requires intricate planning, and you still have to get lucky.

So when the Dallas Arboretum got lucky with a one-off event last summer, it decided to repeat the formula this summer and hope it works just as well.

“That’s everybody’s challenge in an organization — a younger generation,” says Terry Lendecker, the arboretum’s vice president of advertising and promotions.

The winning formula last July was to invite local musicians and let them perform intimate sets in several spots throughout the gardens. The food trucks, BYO picnics and beverages, and an affordable $7 entry fee on a Friday night didn’t hurt, but the millennial surge likely came from the musicians’ social media promotion of the event, Lendecker says.

Neighborhood musicians Salim Nourallah, John Lefler and Camille Cortinas each have an extensive local following, and it’s safe to assume their following trends young. Lefler and Cortinas will return this summer for what the Arboretum is calling “Garden Gigs,” which take place every Friday night this month.

These mini concerts don’t replace the cover bands who headline the Arboretum’s amphitheater stage in late spring, early summer and fall. Those shows, which pay tribute to such stars as the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson and the Beatles, tend to appeal to a more mature demographic.

The arboretum pictures itself as a venue for all ages — “womb to tomb,” Lendecker says, “everyone from grandmothers to grandkids.” Its Mommy & Me Mondays and Tiny Tot Tuesdays act as a point of entry for young parents. But young professionals, “they go where the hottest thing is,” Lendecker says. “That’s hard to keep up with, it really is.”

It’s not the only organization in Dallas throwing things at walls to see what sticks. The Dallas Holocaust Museum, for example, offered special millennial admission prices and millennial-only events in June in hopes of educating a younger generation.

Outdoor concerts, which “Dallas does really well,” Lendecker says, are fairly popular with this demographic. The Dallas Zoo hosts summer concerts, as does the Dallas Museum of Art. “Everybody’s doing it,” Lendecker says, but the Arboretum has one strong advantage.

“We’re at the lake,” she says. “That’s hard to compete with.”

— KERI MITCHELL

THE DALLAS ARBORETUM’S GARDEN GIGS TAKE PLACE

EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT IN JULY. ADMISSION IS $10 ($8 FOR MEMBERS) AND INCLUDES PARKING. FIND MORE DETAILS AND THE MUSICIAN LINEUP AT DALLASARBORETUM.ORG.

THE DALLAS ARBORETUM’S GARDEN GIGS TAKE PLACE EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT IN JULY. ADMISSION IS $10 ($8 FOR MEMBERS) AND INCLUDES PARKING. FIND MORE DETAILS AND THE MUSICIAN LINEUP AT DALLASARBORETUM.ORG.