The following program is a West Tennessee PBS special presentation made possible through the generous financial support of viewers like you.

Please, visit westtnpbs.org and make a donation today so that we can continue to make local programs like this possible.

Thank you.

West Tennessee, PBS coverage of the 31st Annual Tennessee Soybean Festival is sponsored locally by the City of Martin, by the Tennessee Soybean Festival, and by the generous support of viewers like you.

Thank you.

[music] [sirens blaring] Hello, everyone.

I'm Tyler Hawks, along with Amanda Love right here on West Tennessee, PBS.

We're at the Soybean Festival parade, and we'll be back in just a few minutes after we get through with this great entourage of police coming through with City and Tennessee Highway Patrol.

We'll be right back with your parade.

[sirens blaring] Through the Color Guard.

We're back with your ROTC coming through with the Color Guard.

Up next, it looks like it's the Grand Marshall, the Bell family.

Yes.

The Triple B Farms, the Bell family, which began with Denton and Elizabeth Bell.

They got married back in 1953, and this is generation after generation after generation of farming.

Yes, 2,400 acres they farmed before they stopped farming.

Wow.

Now they lease that ou.. to farm so that the tradition continues.

We pay tribute to the soybean and the success of the soybean here in Martin and Weakley County.

As the magazine says, it is no small task to harvest the 1.6 million acres of soy beans that were produced in Tennessee last year.

We are focusing on the success of the soybean and it's used all around the world.

It is.

It is.

Most people are probab.. because that's what you snack on and steam those in bags, but did you know that Weakley County produces about 4.5 million bushels a year, valued at over $66 million.

Wow.

We see a good shot of the crowd th.. A lot of people here tonight at the Tennessee Soybean Festival Parade.

We thank you for watching here on West Tennessee PBS.

We encourage you to go to westtnpbs.org to find out more about what's coming up online and on the app and on TV, on WLJT TV Channel 11.

-The parade continues-.

-That's right.

as we have a little bit of a-- Just a bit.

Just a bit.

I'm going to talk a little bit about the entertainment .. Don't get to see.

[laughs] That you don't get to see.

If you were here this year, you saw the Eagle Maniacs Band, which is a tribute band of the Eagles.

Shaggy is scheduled for this week.

Sammy Kershaw, the man who redid the song, Third Rate Romance, and Queen of My Double Wide Trailer, and She Don't Think She's Beautiful, was another big hit.

I know that she didn't get Shaggy songs.

Not sure why.

Yes.

It Wasn't Me.

I think it's one of the songs.

Exactly.

We have about 75 parade ..

It's a great, great year for this and perfect weather.

-It really is.

-It's gorgeous.

It's like 70 degrees and perfect.

Yes.

It is.

The seats are lined, and as yo.. -With candy-.

--more guests coming up.

--and kids right now.

-Candy and kids.

Of course, my favorite, the dogs.

That's what a West Tennessee Festival is all about.

Candy and kids.

[chuckles] Everybody coming together.

This just promotes so many great things about Martin and Weakley County and the State of Tennessee.

You know the thing about parades and festivals and things like this is you don't realize when you're having so much fun and you know, okay, this is great quality of life for the town, but it's so much money that comes in because all of the people that came in that don't live in Martin, even ones that live in Martin, they probably ate here.

They bought gas here.

They shopped here.

There's great shops up and down, small businesses up and ..

This is a lot of money, tax revenue as well for the City of Humboldt and for Weakley County.

I'm sorry, the city of Martin and Weakley County.

Humboldt chamber director, Humboldt slips out.

Sorry, guys.

[chuckles] -Yes.

The City of Martin..

It's a great revenue booster.

We're so privileged to have Amanda Love here, executive director of the Chamber in Humboldt.

Also, she's on the Community Advisory Board, and I am just Tyler Hawks, sitting in the chair with a microphone.

[laughter] Miss UT Martin, Maleia Bigham passing by, all comfy in her chair in the back of the truck.

Yes.

That's nice.

Miss Tennessee Team Volunteer, Kristin Henning, waving to the crowd and tossing candy, making her very popular.

Yes.

[laughter] Miss Weakley County Volunteer and Miss Tennessee Iris Festival.

Of course, our EMS workers.

[sirens blaring] Very important.

Very important and heroes every single day.

They rush in when everyone else rushes out.

Yes.

That's true.

By the way, these machines are not just clean for parades.

They're cleaned this way all the time because of safety.

It's very important for electronics and all the machinery on there to be dust-free.

They just glean with pride as they come down the street today.

Yes.

Gorgeous.

More royalty as we go down the parade route.

Junior Miss Martin.

That's Ainsley Phillips.

That pretty little Mustang.

Got to look at the cars, too.

That's right.

Far better.

You can't have a parade without .. Well, yes.

That's true.

Junior Miss Greenfield, Adlee Sullivan.

In that Silver Corvette.

Wow.

Ms. Martin, Addie Roberts, is up next in the big Ford Bronco.

Oh, yes.

I see those all over the place.

-Bronco is really-.

-Yes.

Those are huge.

They're in the road.

They're huge everywhere.

2024 Miss Weakley County.

That's Allie Spaulding.

Now coming up as a policy that we usually do.

When the bands get in our range, we be quiet because there's moms, there's grandparents, there's neighbors.

I'm an old band geek, so you got to let me hea..

Right.

Let's hear the Westview High School Band from Martin, Tennessee now.

[music] Wow.

Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

High School band geek and UT Martin band.. -Love it.

-Yes.

You and I are both graduates.

We can hear a little bit more.

[music] Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

Their fan bus following behind.

Yes.

That's pretty cool.

Well, all rock stars have busses.

They do.

Yes.

You got to have that.

The driver never gets enough credit because they have to go ev.. -They go everywhere.

They have to know where they're going.

Oh, we got a great dance troop coming.

Spotlight Dance Academy.

[music] -[?].

-Yes.

Okay.

Can't catch.

We're getting thrown candy and neither one of us can catch.

I said I was a band geek.

I didn't play ball.

Sorry.

All right.

Oh, some cuties on this float.

Spotlight Dance Academy.

Little one right there has already got his sucker.

All right.

Ready for the parade.

-That's right.

-Children love these parades.

It's a really big deal for everybody.

-[crosstalk] these parades.

I'm telling you.

They do.

I know they do.

[chuckles] Everybody loves a parade.

Again, they bring in lots of cash for your city, your county, everyone.

Talking about economic development.

Hey, speaking of cash, here's The Man with the Plan, Brad Thompson, who is Director of Economic Community and Tourist Development for the City of Martin.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

-Thank you for to having me.

-Excited to have you.

We were just talking about how not only is this a lot of fun, but it means a lot of money to the City of Martin and to Weakley County.

I mean because these people come in and they shop the shops, they eat, they buy fuel.

If you think this is just a lot of fun, that's great, and it is, because it's great for quality of life, but it's a lot of cash that this means to the area, and all of that money coming in comes-- it means you pay less taxes, basically.

Right Yes.

Just for example, last year we had over 25,000 visitors to our festival.

You can take that footprint and then you look at what it means not only for our counties but even neighboring counties when their hotels are sold out and our hotels are sold out.

Then you take that economic impact that you get from all of those and you see as what is actually one of our biggest economic development projects of the year just in our festival.

That means a lot to our community.

Also, you're developing that community pride and fostering community development, and installing those memories in children.

They want to come back here and even raise their families in a great small-town environment [crosstalk] During the year, there are so many kids at UT Martin, but this makes people want to stay here year-round.

They don't they don't want to go home.

They want to come back and live here because it's just a great place to live and raise a family and enjoy the benefits of Weakley County and the City of Martin.

I mean, look across the street at this gorgeous library.

Right.

When you have ..

Yes.

You got it made today.

it makes it even more better.

Wonderful.

This is amazing.

As we see Dyersburg State Community College passing by.

Thirty-one years strong and it just gets bigger-.

Yes.

It gets bigger.

and better every year.

Every single year.

We love it.

I see your bubble guy has made it.

Yes.

I found him.

[laughter] Those are some great big bubbles.

-Wow.

-I know.

That's pretty impressive.

Isn't it?

That's amazing.

It's impressive.

Yes.

You start planning pretty ..

Right.

We've already started planning for next year, basically, and getting ideas.

When you see things, and you know this, too.

You can see things that you're doing that you already know that you want to change for next year and how you can make improvements and make things run a little smoother.

Just little tweaks.

Right.

After 31 years, you have everything set but you ma.. and it makes it just better and better every year.

It does.

It gets bigger a..

Right.

What's funny about all of that is that we are so intimately involved with planning and festivals that it makes a big difference to you but for the most part, your average festival goer doesn't know the difference.

They never know.

We see the hiccups when they happen and nobody else knows it.

They think it's the greatest thing that ever happened when you're pulling your hair out.

Right.

[chuckles] Nobody sees anything going wrong,..

It's been great so far and you're just getting started this week.

Well, you sure won't see it from me.

Everything is just going perfect.

Everything is perfect.

Everything is perfect.

I'll keep telling myself that all week.

It is.

It absolutely is.

I'll keep telling you.

I'll just call you tomorrow an.. -That's right.

-I want to give credit to the people who started this back in 1994.

Margaret Perry was the chancellor of UT Martin.

The city came together and had this great idea about the soybean, celebrating the soybean, and agriculture in West Tennessee.

What a great combination.

Right.

The soybean continues to be a number one, number two cash crop for Weakley County in the state.

That is one reason that we chose the soybean.

Another reason that I think the committee was looking at the soybean at that time was the diversity of uses of its qualities of how many products and themes and foods [crosstalk] From crayons to cooking oils.

Yes.

Everything.

Right.

Yes.

I know.

Then that parlays into our festival and the events and the typ.. that we have to a diverse community as well.

As we see Zaxby's passing by.

I'm sure Zaxby's uses soybean oil at some point.

Yes.

That's right.

-I'm sure they do.

-I guarantee you that .. Martin Realty Company rolling through here.

[cheering] Lots of uses for it; crayons, cooking.

I think there's biofuel, biodiesel fuel, lots of-- what did I read?

An acre of soybeans will produce about 82,000 crayons.

-Oh, wow.

-That's a lot.

That's a great fact.

I need to remember that one.

[laughter] -I'll send you that one.

-I'm..

I'll text you that one later, Brad.

[laughter] Candles, of course, lots of soy candles.

When you go into a boutique in some of these small businesses.

Soy milk is a big thing right now in the grocery store.

-Yes.

-It is.

It is.

It's really very popular.

It's Alderman Edwards.

ABC Medical as they pass by.

It's amazing how this community comes together.

The churches, the schools, the civic clubs, everybody comes together for this.

It's really igniting tonight.

It's really shining very brightly for you and other community leaders.

I think I see Super Soy coming down the street.

Yes.

Super Soy is one of our most popular attractions all week.

Oh.

The kids are going nuts down there.

Yes, you got to get your picture with him.

Many people come up and want their picture made.

Sure.

Listen, that's some.. you can get is having a great mascot.

[laughter] Good thinking.

It's all over social media.

-Because they're going to post it.

-Yes.

All over social media.

Where was Super Soy?

WCMT representing coming down the street?

Thunderbolt Broadcasting.

There's several radio stations here in Martin and also over-.

Mr. Tinkle behind the Wheel.

--Union City.

-The infamous Paul Tinkle.

What is he going to do?

I don't know.

He's going to sign us up for ..

He wants our autographs.

[laughter] -Here, Brad.

-Give him yours.

Here you go, Brad.

Here you go, Brad.

You give him yours.

-For sure.

-Give me yours.

That's right.

There we go.

We're famous in our own minds.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

[laughter] Good to see you.

Good to see you.

Paul .. We're famous in our own minds.

That's right.

Exactly.

Followed up by The Quake.

That's the rock side of Thunderbolt Broadcasting, I believe.

With the Titans logo on the side there.

Tennessee Titan Station.

You can't beat that.

Good combination.

[sirens blaring] Is that first Community Bank coming up next?

-Yes.

-I think so.

Yes.

Oh, I hear UT Martin's band.

Yes.

The tune.

UT Martin does a great job.. with the festival as well and they're a really good partner to work with and just like all the student athletes that you see coming up down the street.

They take time out of their busy day and training and participate in the festival.

Yes.

One of them just brought me a bottle of water.

-They're great.

-Nice.

A historic fact about UT Martin is students needed somewhere to get a college education where they, in the afternoon, could go back to the family and work on the farm.

It's very important for them to be close to these great West Tennessee farms.

We're talking about the big farmers.

The Griggs.

We have around the Humboldt area, Ken and Jason ..

The list goes on and on of these family farmers.

-The Bells here.

-The Bells here.

Yes.

Celebrating them during this week.

Oh, look at Super Soy.

Got an adoring kiddo.

Super Soy is an official superhero.

Yes.

He is.

Yes.

He is.

The Sharon Fire and Rescue.

You can hear them and see them coming.

More of our heroes.

That's the biggest dalmatian I've ever seen.

Yes.

[laughter] Probably the cuddliest.

Look at that fuzzy head.

Wow.

Oh, here comes the superhero, Super Soy.

Oh, we're about to kick off.

[music] Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

The mighty [crosstalk] are also here.

That's my Skyhawk only.

Only, I'm old and when we went, it was Pacers.

[laughs] Yes.

I remember .. what the mascot was going to be and Bud Grimes was involved very heavily as the chief of public relations and Skyhawks just seem perfect and it really has propelled the image and helped the overall feel of the campus.

Brad, tell me, time to give a shout-out to some of the people who have made this possible.

I'm not going to ask you how many volunteers because I know that's not going be able to be calculated.

You've got hundreds, I know, but there are a lot of people who made this.

Sure.

We have a core committee of volunteers that.. really, we start officially in December and we meet every Friday as needed at noon.

Ms. Joyce Washington has been really instrumental this year.

Ms. Beverly Claybrooks.

We've got Camille Noe, Mayor Brundige is very involved and very present at all of our meetings and supportive.

You know that you have to have buy-in from your local leadership to really have a successful festival.

Our county supports us as well with the Chamber and we have folks from there that come to our meetings.

We have a couple of UTM students that come and some UTM staff that come, and so we have-- That's important to get a different perspective, too.

-Right.

-Yes.

That's important.

Right.

That's been very helpful to us.

We have people who are younger and people who are getting a little older like me and it's definitely helpful to understand those needs of the young people and what gets them interested, involved I definitely - I'm almost out of the loop on that now.

[laughter] Unfortunately, I don't want to admit that.

I think we're all around the same age, so I think so, yes.

I think we're all aging out as some of that, but I think we've still got some important points that we could make.

Yes.

I think so.

-[crosstalk] Excuse me.

-Yes.

I think the big thing-- -Go ahead.

-I'm sorry.

I think the big thing that you said is you defin.. to have the buy-in of your local officials.

You really do.

I think that goes back to understan.. economic development that a festival actually is.

It's a big deal, that tourism is real money.

Yes.

I always love getting those numbers back after the end.

Your cell phone tells a lot about you.

You can get a lot of information as to where people are traveling from and how long they're here and where they go afterwards.

There's all kinds of fun stuff you can learn, but as you process that, it's how you use that information that you get to figure out what offerings to have, what type of entertainment to have.

You say like Friday night, we'll have a Sammy Kershaw concert.

Saturday night we're having a Shaggy concert, so two very different genres.

-Right.

-Yes and then-- That gets all of your demographics.

We've learned that from our information from festival.

Yes.

Yes.

Of course.

It also tells you that y.. X or they're staying in hotels and so that helps your sponsors know, "Hey, this works for me," or, "Hey, maybe I need to sponsor next year because if I can get my name in front of these people up and down the street, that they're going to come to see me."

That's important.

Those sponsorships are advertisements to get people into your business, so it's a big deal.

Right.

One thing about our sponsors is that in rural communities, people get done an awful lot.

I'm so appreciative of our local businesses and industry that continually year after year support us and consider us when they're making allocations each year and know that-- they realize that it's important to our community and when you stand out here and you see the people and you see the children, you see the faces light up.

You really understand that it's a whole lot more than just a festival.

It is.

How about these huge-.

-Oh wow.

--piece of machinery used on a farm?

Wow.

Wow.

Incredible.

You see these up and down the road in West Tennessee.

You may get behind a tractor, but you just let it go and let it roll because it's very impo.. as they say, as the farmers do well, we do well.

Yes.

They move a whole lot faster now on the road than what they can-.

Oh, yes.

-Oh, yes.

[chuckles] --.. [laughter] It's so funny, too, that you'll go to .. to some of these guys and these are-- some of these things that they can practically turn loose.

GPS runs them.

They can just turn them loose in a field.

That's right.

Yes.

Tennessee Tractor coming up.

I can remember the first Soybean Festival had Tim McGraw, Suzy Bogguss and it was a huge deal.

At that time, it was over at the campus and a very nice thing, not only for the community, but if you're a student of UT Martin, you're in the center of a great event right down the road.

We got to mention FFA coming up because those are-- this is your future of farming.

Literally, these are the future farmers of America.

It's an important tradition to keep up from family to family and getting new farmers in.

These are your future coming right here.

Westview National FFA.

[sirens blaring] Followed by the Dresden Fire Department, more of our first responders.

Nice breeze in the air as we sit here-.

Very nice.

in Martin.

Nice.

Very nice.

Little Miss Rose of Sharon.

Okay.

At this point, we're going to check in with Mr. Peter Noll, the general manager and CEO of West Tennessee, PBS.

Peter?

Hello, Tyler and Amanda and hello from..

There's a lot of people out here tonight because it's the perfect weather for a parade here at the 31st Annual Tennessee Soybean Festival Parade.

The crowds really came out along Martin and from all over Weakly County in West Tennessee.

West Tennessee PBS loves being at these events and bringing you these shows that celebrate what West Tennessee is about.

It's about community, it's about community pride, and it's about celebrating the great place we call home.

We can only do it with your support.

Channel 11 does not sell commercials.

We rely on viewer donations to keep us on the air.

It's easy to donate.

If you haven't already done so, pick up your phone, or your tablet that's already in your hand, and go to our website, westtnpbs.org right now, and click on the donate tab.

It's easy, it's fast, it's secure, and it helps us bring you more local programs like the Tennessee Soybean Festival Parade.

We love being here and we want to continue to be here so, please, donate now.

All right.

Now we continue with.. Festival Parade tonight.

It's going on here at night.

You may be watching at home weeks later, but courtesy of West Tennessee PBS.

We invite you to go to westtnpbs.org to help support West Tennessee PBS.

Also, click on the app and get the app on your phone.

You'll love it.

There goes Judge Tommy Moore hi.. You can watch West Tennessee PBS everywhere from streaming, to antenna, to cable, to the app.

You can find it anywhere and see some of the great programming like Samantha's Favorite Places and lots of good shows.

I'm a travel buff, so I love watching those shows.

You've also got things like Antiques Roadshow and-.

-Oh, sure.

--all the fun shows.

Yes.

Antiques Roadshow.

The ones that are in England and in Ireland are always so much fun to watch.

Yes.

I think that's just..

I think it's more fun.

Yes.

Samantha Brown's Favorite Places is great.

Of course, there's the local programming.

There's Tennessee is Talking.

That's right.

That's right.

Then there's the new, about to start, Retro 11.

They're going to crack open the vault.

Retro 11 coming out soon, so watch for that.

That's going to be a lot of fun.

That's a lot of old shows.

-Yes.

-I think Tyler may be in some of those.

Yes.

Going back to the '90s and the-- A little less gray.

[chuckles] Early 2000s.

Yes.

A little less gray, Tyler.

Yes.

A little less gray.

That's right.

A little more energetic.

Yes.

That's right.

Remember, when you get to the app, or you get to westtnpbs.org, hit the donate button.

We can't be here bringing you these amazing parades and festivals without your help.

The director of production, Darrell Conner, wanted us to thank Vicki's Designer Touch because Vicki let us-- well, let West Tennessee PBS park right next to her business, and they've been very kind to us during our visit here on this evening of the Tennessee Soybean Festival Parade.

As did Savant Learning Systems.

Yes.

Very much.

We thank them very much.

I thank Martin Coffee House for [chuckles] some amazing things, some amazing coffee today.

-Yes.

-Shop local.

Definitely shop local.

Yes.

If you think about it, 70 cents of every dollar you spend local stays in your local community.

Wow.

If you're buying that $9 coffee, $7 coffee so.. you're actually supporting them with over $4 worth of support.

Keep your dollars local.

Right.

The majority of that goes into local education efforts.

If you think about you want to be supporting somebody else at school or your kids' school-- Right, or their roads.

That's right or their roads.

Fill your own potholes.

[chuckles] -That's right.

Buy your coffee at hom..

This is the Lewis Institute Mid-South Taekwondo Association.

They will fight you over candy.

They will.

[chuckles] They will defend their right to keep their candy to themselves.

That's right.

They come in a trailer?

They help you build up your strength, your stamina, and also patience and perseverance, focus.

Absolutely.

[laughs] They are super cute.

Hello, Dance.

I think the kids with Hello, Dance are interested in grabbing the candy.

Yes.

[laughter] They're dancing for candy.

I think they're more interested in grabbing the ca..

They're picking up the scraps.

That's right.

They're like, "We're not throwing our candy.

We're just picking up everybody else's.

Are you kidding me?"

It looks like this is Diversicare?

Yes, of Martin.

That's right.

Now that's a cute float.

It's Mario Brothers.

Yes.

Princess Peach.

I'm sitting here trying to remember her name.

Princess Peach.

Diversicare, Martin Healthcare and Rehab Center.

Not that you don't appreciate the other entries, but when someone takes the time to go the extra effort-.

Yes, and floats are not cheap.

to do a float and invest in it and invest the time and the money-.

Floats are expensive.

they're actually - -It takes a lot of time and talent.

Right.

Okay.

Now this is unique.

I think they're actually throwing toilet paper and not candy coming up.

We've seen this before.

I've been a part of the broadcast before and it's just plumbing.

It's a little something different.

It is-- you must admit it.

It's a necessity.

The adults are running out for the .. [laughs] -Yes.

It's going to be a memorable thing.

If this was 2020, people would be mauling them.

[chuckles] -Oh, well.

That's true.

From TC Plumbing.

Tennessee's Choice Plumbing.

Tennessee's Choice Plumbing.

Okay.

That's the great.. -Wow.

-I love it.

They need to pull that in the Christmas parade, Brad.

-Yes.

-With Santa sitting on that.

I know.

Right?

Oh, we've got more kicking kiddos coming.

Yes.

Is this Red Dragon?

It is.

Don't mess with their candy.

No.

Don't mess with them.

Period.

[laughter] Wait.

I've seen nunchucks in this guy's.

Oh, really?

belt.

Wow.

Oh, wow.

Oh, they've all got nunchucks.

Come on.

They're full of energy if they've been doing that all the way down the road.

-I know.

[laughs] Right?

-Yes.

Oh, .. -Goodness gracious...

They make it all the way down th..

They've been picking up the.. That's where it came from.

They've been eating all the candy.

Behind them is Manpower Services.

Great agency to help you get a job and for the employers to find help.

[cheering] They've got a sign that says they are hiring now.

Oh, everybody is hiring now.

Oh, I see Daniel Tiger in our van coming this way.

Yes.

It's the [?]

coming this way.

Daniel Tiger.

Daniel doesn't drive.

Daniel has a chauffeur.

Yes.

He's kind of a big deal.

He's a big deal so he doesn't drive.

He's a big deal.

-He's got his own-- Daniel.

-He would for sure.. -Absolutely.

-He's a celebrity.

Big celebrity.

Weakley County Democratic Party coming up behind them.

It is a political year.

Yes.

Each festival, and we see this in the Strawberry F.. on election year, there are a lot of cars with dignitaries with signs.

It's a good way to get your message across.

Yes.

You have a captive audience.

Yes.

You do.

[chuckles] They are touting candidates and other items that are going to be on the-- at the polls.

[cheering] Oh, no we can't.

Thank you.

Aguilar Roofing.

Aguilar Roofing brought out all the big equipment.

Yes.

Talking about big farm machinery, here comes big military machinery behind them.

Yes.

Oh, it's Winstead's.

-Mobile Welding.

--Mobile Welding.

All right.

It's not military.

Yes.

Okay.

I see.

Those look like the Girl Scouts.

They did a great job of making that 10 wheeler look like [crosstalk] Look like military.

Exactly.

Girl Scouts and Thin Mints on the back of that jersey.

Everybody's favorite.

Yes.

Really.

Oh, my goodness.

I thought when you said "Thin Mints" they had boxes.

They're not throwing those out, Tyler.

Yes.

Okay.

I was going to.. A very big employer and a big business in West Tennessee.

West Tennessee Healthcare Volunteer Hospital.

We are so appreciative of West Tennessee Healthcare's investment in our community and providing healthcare services.

People do not understand what economic development healthcare generates as well to a community until you don't have a hospital.

That was once here.

I believe they're one of your sponsors.

Yes?

That is correct.

They're great partners to work with as well.

I really appreciate their efforts in our community.

-Al Chymia Shriners.

-Much needed.

Yes.

Here comes the-- Shriners cars are always fun.

Yes.

Characters and really cutting up pretty funny stuff.

It gets your attention.

I will say that, too.

I think he's driven off without taking the gas pump out again.

[laughter] -That's funny.

-"Beware of possum."

[laughter] "Beware of rooster," too.

Yes.

"Beware of rooster," too.

It can happen.

Just random.

Shriners Hospital.

"Honk if parts fall off."

Love it.

This van is Shriners Hospital for Children.

-So important-.

-So important.

to so many families.

They do great volunteer work.

There's Matt's Mobile Mechanic.

And Froggy99.

Yes, part of the Forever Communications Group, the legendary WENK Radio.

Froggy99 or as they say, [voicing] "Froggy."

[chuckles] Okay.

so I can't do that.

[chuckles] -Okay.

Well-- -That's good [laughs].

-That was great.

I've been rehearsing for a while.

I probably could about this time of day.

[laughter] A couple more cups of coffee and I might could.

Yes.

I heard the Jeremy Finch Frog on there today.

Yes.

Jeremy Finch Frog.

That's right.

[music] Lots of fun blowups tonight.

Yes.

She's riding with a skeleton on the other.. [chuckles] -All right.

Her passenger's been there a long time.

Oh, my goodness.

This is part of the Soybean Festival Parade.

The sun goes down and the lights come on.

It's just really cool to see.

It's very cool.

731 Jeeps coming at you right now.

Yes.

Wow.

Some really attractive-looking Jeeps.

Very fun vehicles.

Yes.

Yes.

This is a real thing.

Do y'all have this in your-- in other communities?

There's like a Jeep club.

Oh, yes.

-They have--.

-I know they leave the ducks.

Right?

Yes.

-Yes.

-Yes.

Okay.

Big boy toys.

They're like all lined up out by the Bur.. -Really?

-It's like I'll get text like at least 30 whenever they're like together.

It's like, "What's going on in Martin's?"

-Yes.

[chuckles] -Oh, wow.

[laughter] That's fun.

Yes.

Oh, these are some trick..

These are gorgeous.

Yes.

-They're painted.

Well, I'm sure they're..

They're appliques on the side.

Oh, they have candy guns.

They are very serious about these.

They are very serious.

[laughs] -Candy guns.

Well, it's called Blue Jean Baby.

It's fun.

Yes.

Every one of th.. Oh, speaking of baby, look at the cutie pie.

Yes, see all the ducks lined up across them?

Uh-huh.

Yes, that means yours is cool kind.. People leave you a duck.

Yes.

If you've got a Jeep, people will leave you a duck.

They have all these rubber ducks.

Yes.

They don't do that with a little Toyota Corolla, just telling you.

Just so you know.

Okay.

Just so you know.

[chuckles] -All right.

All right.

-Some of them are cute.

Some of them are tough-looking.

Yes.

That one looks like a definite off-road vehi.. Other ones with all the neon lights.

Yes.

Here's what's fun about a parade, too.

You look around and everybody has their phones up.

Yes.

Getting some video or pictures.

Getting some great videos.

Yes.

That's right.

It'll fire up Facebook tonight, I guarantee you.

That's right.

What's the hashtag they need to use, Brad?

Also, this year, we're just doing like #tnsoybean.

Love it.

If you want to see some pictures besides this broadcast, go on your social media, and look up #tnsoybean.

You'll see lots of pictures from tonight.

I love the candids that happen.

Yes and it really helps us out with our archival photos, too.

Whenever we can go in and search-.

Right.

We can go and search.

and then pull it all up.

It's all right there.

When you have time to do that.

[laughter] When you can find somebody to do that for you.

[laughs] [music] Don't forget, you're watching this right now on West Tennessee PBS.

Go to westtnpbs.org.

You can find us on YouTube.

You can find our app and download it.

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Definitely, hit that donate button.

Again, none of this is possible without viewers like you.

Oh, wow.

I need my sunglasses.

Anybody got my purse?

Yes.

-I mean that's really - -T.. Lit up.

Yes.

I'm going to follow him home.

Okay.

I'm going to get a little excited here.

Here comes the West Tennessee Strawberry Festival.

[chuckles] These are my girls.

Which is in its-- what year this year?

This should be 87.

-Wow.

-Okay.

We missed all of World War II and the year that shall not be named.

-Yes.

Right.

-The Baltimore year.

[laughs] -Is that the-.

-2020. oldest festival in the state?

It is the longest-- Consecutively running?

The longest consecutive, yes, and the longest at seven days, too.

Okay.

I see Jerry Privitt driving th.. -His wife is the-- -Mitzi Privitt.

-Is the president.

-Our president.

There is Teresa Wade.

It's our general chairman's wife.

There they are, the royalty.

There's our girls, all matchy-matchy and looking so cute.

-Great.

-President Mitzi Privitt this year.

General Chairman Danny Wade.

-Here's what-- -As they say, "Y'all come."

That's right.

Blackberry Pond Farm right be..

Pick Tennessee folks.

So many different participants in this parade.

It's not just the marching bands.

It's not just EMS.

It's not just Highway Patrol and floats.

So many different clubs and people who get involved and that's great.

There is-.

There's Mitzi.

--Mitzi Privitt.

-There's my girl.

[chuckles] First Choice Farm and Lawn Ag Services passing by.

Yes.

I need one of those to just take the trash to the street.

Yes.

[chuckles] Let me put a little stereo in..

Yes.

That's what you need.

Nice eight-track player.

I just need that one to run to the grocery store.

-Yes.

-Get me in and out of traffic.

We've been talking about the huge farm equipment we see.

Is this First Choice still?

I'm not sure but I know they have plenty of headlights.

Yes.

We're blinded by the lights.

-That's right.

[chuckles] -We can't see.

Right.

A big Kubota tractor.

It is.

-Oh, yes.

-Yes.

He's learning [crosstalk] Look at this kiddo.

Kiddo learning how to farm-.

-That's right.

--and drive.

Most farm kids learn to drive before the rest of us.

Sure.

Yes.

they were on the dirt roads.

Yes.

If you can learn to drive on dirt and gravel, you can drive on anything.

Yes.

Wow.

Great machines.

Another new future farmer.

More First Choice Farm and Lawn.

One of the things that Mary Elizabeth Bell said in the magazine was, "We'd go to bed lots of nights here and the tractors working in the fields."

She said it was a good life.

It was a good life.

Wow.

Is that not amazing?

That's why they have lights .. because they're out in the fields at night.

Oh, no.

This is cute.

The whole truck's a puppy dog.

-Van Ayer.

-That's Van Ayer Nursing Home.

Yes.

[cheering] More Future Farmers of America Association.

This time coming from Dresden coming up the way.

Look at this little horse.

Oh, wow.

It's a my-height horse.

-It's a what?

-It's a my-height horse.

Oh, yes.

[laughter] I thought that was an actual like equestrian thing.

-No, no, no.

It's a I'm-five-foot-tall thing.

[chuckles] [cheering] All right.

This is Jacob Crowe working the crowd here.

That's right.

Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network coming up.

Weakley County Prevention Coalition.

Yes.

Encouraging you if you see something, to say something, and to ask for help.

Absolutely.

Looks like Tommy Harrison and family coming up.

Wow.

What is that?

-Is that Tommy Harrison or is that-- I believe it is.

Aliens Among Us.

Yes.

If you look around-.

Oh, wow.

probably a spaceship that's .. And brought bunnies.

and brought bunnies.

[laughs] I never thought when the aliens landed they would bring bunnies.

Well, isn't that interesting?

[laughter] Interesting is a good word for that.

That's right.

Davis Automotive following up behind.

That is Cubie 2.

You have Gleason Raceway Park, "The playground of power," is what they call it.

The Race Champions.

Very exciting place to be, I'm sure.

Brad, where do you go from here?

Getting ready for tomorrow?

From here, we still have some folks loading in tonight and I'll need to make sure that they're hooked up and have generators to be comfortable this evening and good to go, so our moto sports-- and we have some sideshows throughout the festival.

Yes.

I see some lights and things over the..

Yes.

We've got to do some more readying and put out some more yellow jackets to cover cables and safety is always a big component of the festival.

You will go to bed sometime in the morning.

[chuckles] -That's right.

Patriot Guard riders passing through.

Wow.

[crosstalk] Now that's the only wa.. a motorcycle if it had three wheels.

Three wheels?

Yes.

[chuckles] -That's it.

Zero balance on my part.

Those are pretty cool looking.

Yes.

Pretty comfortable looking, too.

Lots of littles waving out the windows.

Simmons Bank.

A truck full of littles coming this way.

Yes.

-This little-- -I can't tell who this is.

That is Simmons Bank.

More of Simmons Bank.

Simmons Bank.

A big supporter of this event.

-Definitely.

-Yes.

Right behind them is Ms. Ady Newton.

Is that Miss Junior Rodeo?

Yes.

Wow.

Listen, she is a real rodeo queen.

She can do it all-.

Oh, man.

let me tell you.

I worked with her mom.

-Is this UT Martin--?

-Rodeo?

This is UT Martin Rodeo.

This is how you know that you're at the end of the festival.

Is the horses?

All of the horses.

That's right.

These guys are phenomenal.

Yes.

They are absolutely amazing.

The UT Martin Rodeo team.

Nothing better.

Yes.

National champions.

Here and there as the years have gone by, what a wonderful program and very unique to Tennessee.

It's just a really cool thing.

If you've never come to a rodeo, come to the rodeo finals here at UT Martin.

Come to just a rodeo, not even wait to the finals.

-Come see the rodeos.

-Yes.

Absolutely.

These guys work their tails off and are so good.

Beautiful horses.

Yes.

Then we have the city truck coming by to clean up right behind them.

That's right.

[laughter] That's how you know it's the end of the parade.

That's right.

[laughter] He's the Santa Claus.

He's the Santa Claus of parades.

[crosstalk] the festival.

[laughter] This has been a lot of fun, Tyler.

It's been a long time since I've done anything like this, as is obvious, I think.

I think it went very well.

-It's been a lot of fun.

-It went very well, a lot of fun.

It's been a lot of fun.

Brad, thank you for not only joining us .. but also a great festival.

-Thank you.

--so far.

-It's going to be a great-- -It's going to be ..

Thanks to West Tennessee PBS for making this happen.

This is such a big boost to our festival.

It gives us a lot of coverage and exposure.

I really do appreciate it.

Thank you for your time.

Congratulations on a great week.

Thank you.

Fantastic week.

Fantastic parade.

From all of us at West Tennessee PBS, Amanda Love, Brad Thompson, Tyler Hawks, we've had a great time.

Don't forget.

Go to the westtnpb.. and watch more from West Tennessee PBS.

Thank you.

West Tennessee PBS coverage of the 31st Annual Tennessee Soybean Festival is sponsored locally by the City of Martin, by the Tennessee Soybean Festival, and by the generous support of viewers like you.

Thank you.

[music] The program you've been watching was made possible through the generous financial support of West Tennessee PBS viewers like you.

Please, visit westtnpbs.org and make a donation today so that we can continue to make local programs like this possible.

Thank you.

It's all about home on West Tennessee PBS and we want to showcase your community events.

Email them to us four weeks ahead of the event on West Tennessee PBS.

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[music]