Ben Wheeler Ready to Kick-Off  2010 Hog Fest

Ben Wheeler, TX – 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 Thursday, Aug. 19, noon at Moore’s Store.

During the kick-off, local dignitaries will address guests and the co-founder of Ben Wheeler Arts & Historic District Foundation, Brooks Gremmels will introduce local 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 been putting on the Fall Feral Hog Festival, which includes a morning parade, an afternoon cook-off 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 for a year.

This year’s events, will again take place toward the end of October. The Fall Follies is set for Friday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m. at Moore’s Store with live music provided by the Stanley, Nardo, Stanley band.

The parade, festival and cook-off take place Oct. 23, 10 a.m.- 3 p.m. with live music on the Pickin’ Porch throughout the day’s events.

The fun continues Saturday night at Moore’s Store with the Zydeco Stingrays headlining the weekend’s entertainment.  The Dallas-based band will crank-up at 7 p.m. and play until 10 p.m.

Last year’s theme was Born to Be Wild, with the logo illustrated by Tyler’s Brent Hale.  This year’s theme, Hog Hev’n will feature another one-off logo by Hale.  The feral hog theme of Ben Wheeler’s weekend festival is meant to poke fun at the expanding state-wide population of wild hogs.  As Gremmels says, “we’re just making lemonade out of lemons.

Feral (wild) hogs are a large problem in Van Zandt County and much of Texas, and North America. Additionally, the omnivores – they eat plants and other animals – are a multi-million-dollar problem because they can disrupt both livestock and farming operations by damaging facilities and fences, and trampling and eating crops. They also are popular table fare and, in some areas, compete with the white-tailed deer as the most popular animal to hunt.

Guests of the Kick Off will be encouraged to pick up an entry form to participate in the various events including the cook-off, the queen contest and the parade.

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

“We've had two Feral Hog Festivals to practice and we intend to get it right this year. 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,” said Gremmels.

To obtain festival contestant/participation forms, stop by the Ben Wheeler Development Company office at 13814 Highway 64 or download them from benwheelertx.com.

For more information, call 903.833.1070 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

In a community with a thousand or so nearby residents, Ben Wheeler Development Company, LLC (BWDC) and Ben Wheeler Arts & Historic District Foundation (BWA & HDF) is planning additional music venues, multiple entertainment porches, more new restaurants, more new shops and various businesses. A fully restored downtown park complete with gazebos is also planned to be part of Ben Wheeler’s renewal. 



Ben Wheeler, named for the first man to carry mail into Van Zandt County, thrived during the late 1800s and early 1900s as families arrived in horse-drawn wagons, rode horses, or walked to visit, get mail, buy supplies, and sell or trade goods at one of the several general stores. The community included churches, barbers, blacksmiths, tailors, saddle and shoe shop, several gins and mills, a bank, the Berry Resort Hotel, boarding houses, a movie theater, lumber yard, a garage with gas pumps eventually, cafes, a school, and even a college at one time called the Alamo Institute. Ben Wheeler shrank after World War II as many people left for large cities to find work. 


For more information about BWDC or BWA & HDF, please contact marketing director Veronica Terres at 903.262.4786 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .