Beth Watson lives about a mile from my house in Casa Linda Estates, so she and I shop and frequent a lot of the same neighborhood joints and parks. I see Beth, her husband, and their adorable girls at Casa Linda Park pretty frequently. Her kids go to the same preschool and my little boy. So when I posted about taking a walk with my son and my over-sized shedding machine of a Great Pyrenees mix named Hornsby through #eastdallas, I noticed that Beth had commented on my photo with a different hashtag: #gardendistrict. That was Jan. 24.
I had never heard of the term used to describe our side of town, so I asked Beth about it. Turns out she’d be hashtagging #gardendistrict all over Facebook whenever her friends and neighbors had used the tag #eastdallas. Watson started using the tag about two years ago, back when Elizabeth Dry’s Promise of Peace garden moved in next to White Rock United Methodist Church, and the Children’s Garden at the Dallas Arboretum opened.
So, calling East Dallas the “Lake and Garden District” isn’t a new concept, and while a bunch of people LOVE the idea, there are several that are less than enthused about the name change. It’s a great way to run a campaign to increase the visibility of a neighborhood, for sure, so kudos to the Darlene Ellison of the Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce and all the businesses who were behind the re-branding.
“We are excited to have the community partnership of countless organizations and businesses in the area, including Comerica Bank, Ebby Halliday Realtors, C.C. Young, The Dallas Arboretum, Times Ten Cellars, The LOT, The Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce, White Rock Partnership and Doctors Hospital at White Rock Lake, Robert E. Lee Elementary and Lakewood Elementary,” Ellison said. “Our community partners are a big part of promoting all the wonderful assets East Dallas has to offer and this project would not have been a success without their support.”
What do you think of the re-branding? And are you #TeamBlue or #TeamGreen?
