Pumpkins, ponies and a straw maze have taken over Fritz Park in Irving, where the Animal Connection Experience is running its fall pumpkin patch every Saturday and Sunday through Oct. 31. The attraction at 312 E. Vilbig St. pairs a petting zoo with pig races, pony rides and photo ops, giving families a weekend destination through the rest of October.
The City of Irving flagged the season's momentum in a social post Thursday, writing, “🐴🎃 Fall fun is in full swing at Fritz Park!” according to a Facebook post from City of Irving, Texas - City Hall. The pumpkin patch runs Oct. 3 through Oct. 31, 2026, with hours listed as 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays, according to DFWChild. A separate city page lists the operation running Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Sundays unchanged, so visitors may want to confirm hours before a weekday visit.
Pumpkins, Pigs and a Petting Zoo
The event is presented by Animal Connection Zoo, operated through Westland Ranch LLC, which has partnered with the City of Irving on the experience since the summer of 2021, per the operator's own account. The farm lineup includes goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, pigs, alpacas and miniature cows, and children are invited to pet, brush and feed the animals during visits, the same source notes.
Beyond the animal encounters, visitors can wander a straw maze and catch races at the Fritz Park Race Track, where specially trained pigs compete for first place. Pony rides are available for children weighing under 70 pounds, and Saturdays bring extra programming such as family craft projects, animal races, face painting and food trucks. Professional family photography is also available most weekends, though the operator advises calling ahead to check the photographer's schedule.
Admission and Pumpkin Prices
Admission costs $4 for Irving residents and $6 for nonresidents, with children age 2 and under admitted free, according to the DFWChild roundup. Pumpkins themselves are priced at $10 each, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Irving Animal Services, per the operator's website.
Pricing on a child's combo package is less clear-cut: one page on the operator's site lists an $8 combo covering admission, a feed cup and a pony ride, while the dedicated pumpkin-patch page lists an $11 combo that adds a Magic Pumpkin Seed to the same admission, feed cup and pony ride. The discrepancy wasn't resolved in available materials, so families may want to check current pricing directly with the attraction.
There's also some inconsistency around how many years the pumpkin patch has been running: the operator's pumpkin-patch page describes this as its fifth annual event, while a separate search-result snippet for the same page calls it the fourth. Either way, the partnership between Westland Ranch and the city has been in place since 2021, giving Irving families a now-familiar fall tradition to return to each weekend through Halloween.
