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A tortoise plays on a water pad at the Texas Zoo.

A tortoise plays on a water pad at the Texas Zoo.

The Texas Zoo wants families to have a great day together on the last Saturday before school begins so they are holding a Back to School Bash from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Education Director Katlyn Irwin said the event is tailored for all ages. “We try to gear it toward as many age groups as we can.”

The bash includes “a huge waterslide” as well as toddler water areas, and a giant splashpad, Irwin said. “Even some of our staff like going down the giant waterslide, she said laughing, adding they do that after hours, “So it’s for all ages.”

There is $2 off the admission price that day. “We will have a ton of different games geared towards back to school. As well as giveaways, goodie bags.” Bubbles, face painting and animal shows are also included.

Ganga’s Eats & Events, a new local business, will be serving gourmet hot dogs and nachos. “Their first event was the PRIDE event,” Irwin said. They also sell their products locally at the Victoria Farmers’ Market. Several local organizations will have booths at the bash, such as Trinity School, and Smile Dentistry.

Irwin said they want to provide “a relaxing day for parents and kids to enjoy,” before school starts. Kids can wear their bathing suits, and there will be a place to kick off shoes before going down the slide.

The benches for the zoo’s stage area will be moved around the park to supply enough seating for everybody. “We’ll also have part of our petting zoo open so people can feed our emus and our deer and our goats and be able to interact with them,” Irwin said.

Of course, in addition to the special activities, the whole zoo will be open. “We’ll try to have as many games and activities stretched out around the entire zoo, not just in one singular area. But we try to keep the water in one area,” Irwin said.

The zoo’s animals have struggled from the heat this summer much the same as humans, Irwin said. They used sprinklers to cool down some animals. Others had air conditioning. And, not unlike those who find an ice-cold ice cream cone or popsicle refreshing, the zoo creates summer treats for its residents. Irwin said they make “fish popsicles, meat popsicles.” They also make bear biscuits and leaf-eater biscuits. They also mix water with fruit and vegetables for popsicles. “Just anything the animals will eat. … We’ll try and put as much of it together as we can, and we just freeze it. We have little popsicle molds. And we’ll do any, like huge ones for the bears and the jaguars. It’s very cool. Oh, they love it.”

She said during the Back to School Bash the staff will also do their normal training sessions so guests will be able to experience things like otter and pelican feedings.

“We’re a nonprofit,” Irwin explained. “So events like this help make a big impact on our small facility and a big impact on our animals. It also assists with a lot of our trainings that we do with the animals.”

“It’s a really fun event. Our last water event that we did, it was a blast,” Irwin said. “We ended up keeping some of the water on for a little bit longer for some of our employees to enjoy it after work, and we let some of our smaller animals kind of play in it also, so it was a lot of fun.”

What: Texas Zoo Back to School Bash

When: Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Zoo is located at: 110 Memorial Drive, Victoria.

For information call: 361-573-7681. Go to: Back to School Bash | The Texas Zoo

Discounted admission is: $8.50 adults, $7.50 for children 12 and under, seniors and military with ID, children 2 and under are free.

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