The University of Tennessee at Martin has partnered with the city of Martin and many others to bring the 30th annual Tennessee Soybean Festival back to Martin on Sept. 2-9.
This year, there are many events scheduled for the whole family, several of which will take place on UT Martin’s campus, including the ninth annual “Guitar as Art” show, the 5K Race and 1K Fun Run and the annual UT Martin Family Weekend, which coincides with the festival this year.
The Guitar as Art show will take place in the Fine Arts Building on campus at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 3. The exhibit is free to the public and everyone is invited to attend. The event features 30 guitars that have been altered using various 2-D media methods to represent this year’s themes of getting back together and old places, new horizons.
“Guitar as Art is one of the best parts about the Soybean Festival,” said Professor Jason Stout, the event coordinator. “Come out and see the great creativity of our local and surrounding community artists.”
The Tennessee Soybean Festival parade begins at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5, in the parking lot across University Street from the Hall-Moody Administration Building. It will go eastward on University Street to downtown Martin, where it will turn northward onto Lindell Street. The deadline to enter the parade is Thursday, Aug. 31. Applications can be found at www.tnsoybeanfestival.org.
To kick off Family Weekend, UT Martin has also partnered to bring the Brothers Osborne show to Martin on Friday, Sept. 8, which will be held at WK&T Amphitheater.
UT Martin’s Flight Crew will give away 1,000 free tickets to the Brothers Osborne concert by attending the free ticket giveaway at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 29, on the Boling University Center North Patio. Tickets may also be ordered online at tnsoybeanfestival.org. Tickets for the concerts range from $20 to $40.
The 5K Race and 1K Fun Run will be held on campus at the UT Martin Elam Center beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9. Those who would like to participate in the race must pre-register online by visiting tnsoybeanfestival.org.
Registration for the race ranges from $5 to $10 per person. At the conclusion of the race, awards will be given to the first- through third-place finishers in each age group competing in the 5K and the first- through third-place finishers in the 1K Kid Race for boys and girls 10 and under.
Along with the events happening on campus, there are several other events scheduled throughout the week. Visit tnsoybeanfestival.org for the complete schedule of events and ticket prices.