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Happening on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., the West Virginia Hot Dog Festival will feature a KidÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Zone, a Pet Zone, arts and crafts and, of course, hot dog booths.

Among the restaurants bringing hot dogs to the festival are:

• StewartÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Original Hot Dogs, Huntington
• Mardi Gras CasinoÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Cafe Orleans, Cross Lanes
• Triple H Drive-In, Lavalette
• Holy Smoke BBQ, Ceredo
• The Custard Stand, Webster
• The Shakery, Ironton, Ohio
• JimÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Steak and Spaghetti, Huntington
• T & L Hot Dogs, Morgantown
• Frosted Farm Girl, Jump Bridge
• SandyÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Kitchen and Spirits, Ashland, Kentucky
• SamÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Hot Dogs, Ashland, Kentucky
• Super Weenie, Charleston

There will also be three dog contests happening this year.

The All-Breed Dog Costume Contest will happen at 10:20 a.m., with the annual Pooch Parade to follow at 10:40 a.m. The All-Breed Exhibition Dog Races will begin at 11:40 a.m., featuring races in three different dog weight classes, and finally, the annual Wiener Dog Races and $100 Dachshund Dash Championship Race will happen at noon.

The Business Mascot Match Up Race which is a race of local mascots who will also do meet-and-greets and take photos with festival attendees, begins at 12:45 p.m..

At 2 p.m., the love of all things hot dogs gets serious as the annual Hot Dog Eating Contest takes place, followed by the Root Beer Chugging Contest at 2:20 p.m., which is sponsored by HuntingtonÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Frost-Top Drive-In.

The Car & Truck Cruise-In will be there all day and live music will happen throughout the festival featuring the band The 1965, ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWhatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Up Betsy?ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� and the group City Heat.

Mandt is the fourth generation of his family to own StewartÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Original Hot Dogs, which has been a Huntington tradition for 93 years now.

What motivated Mandt to create this event, he said, and the reason why supporting the Hoops Family ChildrenÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Hospital is so important to him, was the experience of losing two of his siblings to illness when he was a young boy.

Mandt said more than $300,000 has been raised for the hospital through the Hot Dog Festival proceeds.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWe partly started this festival because we are the oldest restaurant of any kind in this area and we wanted to do something to give back to the community,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Mandt said. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œInitially, the proceeds from the festival in the early years went to the Oncology Department at Cabell Hospital here in Huntington. Then, when the Hoops Family ChildrenÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Hospital became a reality, they came to us and we said yes, that weÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™d be glad to help them as it is a place that gives people hope and the knowledge that their kid has a chance of being healed without having to go to Cincinnati or Memphis or anywhere else.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥�

Helping to produce the West Virginia Hot Dog Festival for all 21 years is Kym York-Blake. York-Blake worked for iHeart Radio here in Huntington for many years before she retired, yet she has stayed on to help run this event because of her affection for the folks at the Hoops Family ChildrenÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Hospital.

More information on the West Virginia Hot Dog Festival can be found at .