Mark Wolf, Dallas Arboretum board chairman, Randy and Micki Baldwin, Al Olson, Dallas Arboretum board member.
The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden has come close but has never reached 1 million visitors in a single year, that is, until now.
On Wednesday, just before noon, Randall and Micki Baldwin walked up to the ticket booth and became the 1 millionth visitors to visit the arboretum. They were greeted with cheers and TV cameras as they passed the entrance and were informed about the record they had helped the arboretum break.
Randall called it an “extremely surprising” turn of events adding, “it’s really pleasant.”
The Northern California couple were visiting the arboretum for the first time and had helped the arboretum beat last year’s record of 930,000 guests. The Baldwins have been traveling throughout the western United States visiting as many arboretums and botanical gardens as they can and stopped in East Dallas while on a trip visiting family in Oklahoma.
“We were looking forward to coming,” Micki said as she stood smiling with her husband.
The couple can now come back as much as they want as they now have a two-year family membership to the arboretum, along with a few other special perks for coming in at the right time. Talk about an early Christmas present.
