23rd annual soybean festival gets underway

MARTIN, Tenn — The 23rd annual soybean festival in Martin is underway, and people are already excited. This west Tennessee tradition is a town favorite. Folks started their morning at the farmers market shopping for fresh produce, and they even got to try some tasty samples. Vendors at the farmer’s market say there’s no better way to kick off the soybean festival than at the market. This year’s theme for the festival is “homegrown”.

Market manager, Richard Gallagher said “all of our produce at this market is grown locally within 25 miles of Martin.”

One local vendor said the location is something new the city has added, specifically for the soybean festival.

“I think their going to have more farming displays like their using this building for a specific farming display this year and i think that’s exciting.” Vendor, Darlene Drummond said.

As the farming season starts to wind down the market manager is confident the festival will help boost sales.

“When school starts in August the business of the market kind of drops off a little bit, but when the soybean festival does come in we get a little bit of a rise in our customers.” Gallagher said.

Some of the major events like the street fair and headliner concerts will kick off later this week.

Drummond said “it can be quite a few numbers here.”

Vendors said with the crowds comes a lot of excitement for the city of Martin.

“Excited waiting for the festival to get started real good and hopefully  we can have a very successful year this year with it.” Drummond said.

The soybean festival continues through next Sunday, September 11th. Click here to see  the schedule of events.