BEN WHEELER — Ben Wheeler Arts & Historic District Foundation will kick off the 2010 Fall Feral Hog Festival, World Championship Wild Hog Cook-Off, and Fall Feral Follies on Aug. 19 here at Moore’s Store.

During the kick-off, dignitaries will address guests and the co-founder of Ben Wheeler Arts & Historic District Foundation, Brooks Gremmels, will introduce freelance illustrator Brent Hale, the artist who created this year’s festival logo.

He will also re-introduce the 2009 Hog Queen, Stacey Gilchrist.

Since 2008, Ben Wheeler Arts & Historic District Foundation has sponsored the Fall Feral Hog Festival, which includes a morning parade, an afternoon cookoff and a follies show the night prior to the festival.

During The Follies, Hog Queen contestants compete for the crown, a chance to reign as the official Fall Feral Hog Festival Queen.

This year’s events are again scheduled for October. The Fall Follies is set for Oct. 22, at 7 p.m., at Moore’s Store, with live music by the Stanley, Nardo, Stanley band.

The parade, festival and cook-off are set for Oct. 23, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with music on the Pickin’ Porch throughout the day’s events.

On Saturday night, Moore’s Store continues the festivities with Zydeco Stingrays, a Dallas-based Cajun/Zydeco band, taking the stage at 7 p.m.

Last year’s logo, also illustrated by Hale, depicted the festival’s “Born to Be Wild” theme. Each year, the illustration seeks to poke fun at an ever-growing problem with wild hogs.

Gremmels said the festival’s premise is “a bit of making lemonade out of lemons.”

Feral hogs are a large problem in Van Zandt County and much of Texas. Additionally, the omnivores — they eat plants and other animals — are a multi-million-dollar problem because they can disrupt livestock and farming operations by damaging facilities and fences, and trampling crops.

Forms for those interested in volunteering or to be a vendor will be available.

“We’ve had two Feral Hog Festivals to practice and we intend to get it right this year,” Gremmels said. “The attendance grew in the second year to some 8,000 feral friends of Ben, and we’re confident it will be bigger than ever this year.”

Call 903-833-1070, or email hogfest@bwdc.net.