Lake Highlands Advocate

01/07/2026

🌍✨ There’s a big, exciting world out there, and DART is a child’s ticket to discovering it!

🚆🚌🚋 Every trip is a new adventure, whether they’re riding DART Rail, buses, GoLink, the TRE, the Dallas Streetcar, the M-Line Trolley or DART’s newest regional rail service, the Silver Line.

🛑🎨 Every stop brings something new to see -- and new horizons to discover.

🖌️🧠 Got a talented young artist at home?
Tell them to grab their pass and let their imagination lead the way!

📄🖍️ Entries should be submitted on heavy paper such as poster, tag or illustration board.

🎨 Students may use multiple colors of their choice; however, DART recommends that students avoid black and white drawings or artwork.



👉 Learn more and submit entries here:
https://www.dart.org/guide/supporting-services/transit-education/dart-student-art-contest

01/07/2026

Lake Highlands basketball started the new year right, securing an 84-50 win at home against Berkner on Tuesday.

Lake Highlands basketball started the new year right, securing an 84-50 win at home against Berkner on Tuesday. Lake Highlands basketball coach Joe Duffield leads his team from the sidelines. Photography by Brandon Gonzalez. The

01/06/2026

“If you see this guy, he looks a little bit like Fozzie Bear,” St. John’s Episcopal School Chaplain Shannon Newsome says of her assistant chaplain with a laugh.

“If you see this guy, he looks a little bit like Fozzie Bear,” St. John’s Episcopal School Chaplain Shannon Newsome says of her assistant chaplain with a laugh. As teasing as it may sound, she’s not wrong. Sitting at about 2 feet tall and

01/05/2026

The Lake Highlands Town Center is home to one of the 20 top pizzerias in the U.S, at least as far as Pizza Today is concerned.

The Lake Highlands Town Center is home to one of the 20 top pizzerias in the U.S, at least as far as Pizza Today is concerned. Photo by Kathy Tran. In late December, the margarita-filled trade publication released its annual

01/05/2026

Like any industry, there’s always going to be change in the barbecue business. Sometimes, that change comes in the form of new blood working the pit.⁠
⁠
Scott Collard bought Back Country BBQ in 2016 after spending 40 years working his way first from the dish pit to the register, then from the smoker to the manager’s office at Big Al’s Smokehouse. Over the last decade, he’s introduced new menu items and tampered recipes — a delicate dance at a business that first opened near Ferndale Road and Northwest Highway in 1975 before moving to Vickery Meadow in 1988.⁠
⁠
Collard updated the barbecue sauce, keeping the ketchup-based recipe like its predecessor, but utilizing juice from caramelized onions and lemons to create a sauce he says is “sweeter and tangier.” Regulars, apparently, haven’t had too much of a problem with the alteration.⁠
⁠
“At first, we didn’t change a whole lot, but I slowly changed things over the years. Some of my recipes, I think they’re better,” Collard says. “Nobody knows that I’ve changed the sauce, Nobody has noticed it, but I’m getting compliments on it. They know something’s different.”⁠
⁠
https://lakehighlands.advocatemag.com/2026/01/03/back-country-bbq-looks-to-the-next-50-years/

📷️: Justin Schwartz⁠

01/02/2026

JuneBugs Children’s Boutique owner Abbie Lynch says, “As a mom, I really encourage people to come in and allow this to be a safe space. Allow it to be a place where they can shop freely without judgment, like if their child is crying or they’re fussy, and I’m engaging with them, I’m playing with them, and not because it’s for business.”⁠
⁠
In addition to gift-y items, Lynch also wants JuneBugs to be a place where moms can go in a pinch for things like bibs and belly oil. “What I wanted was a store that wasn’t just a gift boutique,” Lynch says. “I wanted it where, if a mama was at home, and she’s like, ‘Oh my goodness, I ran out of something, or I need a bottle real quick.’ She can run down and grab it.”⁠
⁠
JuneBugs is named after her 4-year-old daughter, June. While June isn’t quite able to play a more active role just yet, both of her older sisters stop by to lend a helping hand. Abbie’s mom works part time behind the counter while her husband works as the delivery driver. Behind the counter sits a picture of Joanie Williams, Lynch’s grandmother. ⁠
⁠
https://lakehighlands.advocatemag.com/2025/12/03/lake-highlands-has-a-childrens-store-again-with-junebugs/
⁠
📷️: .the.photographer⁠

12/31/2025

The facade of Mark Kogut's Vanguard Way home is made up of three different materials: steel, stucco and brick. At just over 7,000 square feet, the interior is drenched with natural light and pops with Kogut’s collection of colorful contemporary art. Kogut designed the home to be a gallery.⁠
⁠
Past a 14-foot sculptural chandelier in the entryway, the home opens into an expansive public area. A large island kitchen sits in the middle. Above it sits a partial floating ceiling, which Kogut added to offset the open coldness of strict contemporary design and introduce an element of intimacy within the space. A large, ceiling-to-floor fireplace may anchor the room, but the focus is decidedly found while facing outside from the kitchen. ⁠
⁠
“I said I wanted to build a house around [the wall of windows], and I want us to design this house as a place where we can put art. This was what it was. So obviously we built everything around this, and we have all these spaces where art can go.”⁠
⁠
https://lakehighlands.advocatemag.com/2025/12/03/how-an-urban-reserve-got-built-after-losing-its-architect/
⁠
📷️: ⁠

Even in dentistry, when you’re working with a child that has an issue, it always felt good to finish the project,” Mark Kogut says sitting in his book-filled study. Kogut worked in pediatrics for 42 years. He’s also somewhat of an enthusiast for

12/30/2025

“Dallas College is offering innovative pathways for women and families to achieve economic security, stability and success with a full slate of wrap-around support services that make these pathways both affordable and achievable,” said Karen Hughes White, Texas Women’s Foundation president and CEO. “It is only fitting that Dallas College has received Texas Women’s Foundation’s largest-ever educational grant.”

Texas Women's Foundation officials present $500,000 to grateful folks at the Dallas College Foundation. The Texas Women’s Foundation announced a major investment in education and workforce development last month with their $500,000 gift to the Dallas College Foundation. The grant will support prog...

12/29/2025

Tired of looking at the tree already?

12/26/2025

Earlier this year, "USA TODAY’s" 10 Best 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards confirmed something neighbors likely already know — Unrefined Bakery, founded by Anne Hoyt and her daughter Taylor Nicholson, has top-notch gluten-free treats. ⁠
⁠
Named Wholesome Foods Bakery in its early days, the shop opened in Lake Highlands in 2010. As a child, Nicholson recalled that her mother had always been a champion of healthy foods. When she and her mother discovered they couldn’t have gluten anymore because of celiac disease — an ailment in which consumption negatively affects a person’s small intestine — recipes had to change. Unrefined Bakery was born out of this necessity. ⁠
⁠
“In 2010, the marketplace was so different than it is today,” Nicholson says. “I mean, people hadn’t even heard of gluten in 2010." The journey was at first a struggle to find successful recipes, especially since gluten helps bind ingredients during baking. “I had loved to bake, and when I realized I could no longer have gluten, I sort of went into mourning,” Hoyt said in a previous "Lake Highlands Advocate" article. “You kind of have to forget what you know about traditional baking.”⁠
⁠
https://lakehighlands.advocatemag.com/2025/12/05/unrefined-bakery-gluten-free/
⁠
📷️: Justin Schwartz⁠

12/23/2025

“I can’t say that they don’t have some other projects, but there is one tree that, for probably the last month, they’ve gone decently hard almost daily to maybe every other day working on it,” Dallas Park and Recreation biologist Chris Morris says. “It’s still not to the size of what a nest should be, but in the last week or so, it’s starting to kind of flush out and look pretty nice.”

Nick and Nora, the bald eagles of White Rock Lake, have had a busy couple of months. Photo by Mark Fletcher. The pair successfully fledged a pair of eaglets over the spring and summer. In October, however, the eagles’ run of good

12/23/2025

A blue spruce goes on top of the stairs. A travel tree sporting ornaments from family travels. A pink one for a guest bedroom. A purple one for the office. And that’s not even including smaller decorative trees. Christmas is Cindy Terrell's favorite holiday, and she isn’t shy about showing it. Santa statuettes, reindeer prints and mini villages adorn almost every corner of the home. Although, glass decorations have been phased out also to accommodate the grandsons. ⁠
⁠
The two most notable trees for the former Merriman Park Elementary librarian, perhaps, symbolize the fractured collegiate alliances of her family. While Terrell attended Baylor and her husband graduated in Lubbock, her two sons went to Texas and Oklahoma — a sore spot for the family each October. She began decorating a UT-themed tree in her older son’s bedroom after he left for college, so it was only right to erect a Sooner tree when her youngest headed to Norman. ⁠
⁠
Last year, she replaced the contentious pair of plastic green trees with a pink one. Her sons? Not fans, apparently. “The boys really missed that and even though they don’t live here, they have their own families. So I’m bringing back the Texas and the OU trees this year.”⁠

https://lakehighlands.advocatemag.com/2025/12/01/cindy-terrell/
⁠
📷️: Tanner Garza⁠