Martin’s annual Soybean Festival has become a topic of discussion due to some speculation about whether the city is able to afford the event.
Mayor Randy Brundige, a lifetime member of the Martin community and an advocate for the Soybean Festival, said, “We’ve already signed the contract for the carnival that will come. We signed the contract this week for it. Soybean might look a little different this year, but we already have our vendors pouring in. We haven’t started taking their applications, but the lady that does that is saying that she is overloaded at the current moment.”
The moves for Soybean to happen have already begun to take place, with anticipation for it building exponentially. Preparations for the event are going to be very different compared to the last few years.
Brundige states, “We’re not going to put a fence around the perimeter this time like we have before. It’s going to be open, and we are still gonna have two or three shows and gonna have three nights of music.”
UT Martin students should not expect any less than the norm for Soybean. The speculation of Martin not being able to financially support an event of that magnitude were quickly dismissed as Brundige said, “We had a $10 million improvement on our financial statements, so I look for us to have another million to two million dollar improvement this year. So things are getting better. It’s not going to turn around overnight. We’d have between 30 and $40 million budgets here, and it takes a lot of money to operate.”
Brundige went on to explain how COVID had a large impact on the population of the city, leading to numbers not being fully accurate compared to what can be seen by the human eye. In collaboration with Chancellor Dr. Yancy Freeman and the university, goals have been set to improve Martin for the betterment of the community as a whole.
Brundige states, “He’s got a vision that more than 10,000 students will be in university within the next four to five years. So we communicate regularly. We have breakfast one morning, every month together, [to] just sit down and talk about things.”
Freeman works alongside Demetrius Robinson, Director of the Career Planning and Development Office (CPAD), to help students build resumes and connections with companies in West Tennessee. Soybean presents a huge opportunity for CPAD to introduce students to companies that come into the area for the event. CPAD also works to bring things to the university such as vendors, career fairs, internships and speakers to explain post-collage options to students.
Robinson states, “My goal is to provide resources for students to be successful. We help students to identify the right career fit, help to gain work experience, prepare for the Job Search or Graduate School…” Robinson works to promote Martin in all aspects, from social media, hosting events and word of mouth.
For more information about the Soybean Festival and other events happening in Martin, go to www.cityofmartin.net or contact Brundige at mayor@cityofmartin.net.
