05/23/2026
Proposed Plan to Bring the Tennessee Soybean Festival Back to Its Roots.
The goal is simple: bring the Tennessee Soybean Festival back to the heart of what made it meaningful in the first place.
This festival should celebrate what makes our community great: local artists, local businesses, local talent, local farmers, local churches, first responders, and local people gathering together.
We are proposing a 3-day community festival built around music, local vendors, faith, and community support, all in Virginia Weldon Park.
Proposed Festival Structure
Location:
All musical events and the vendor craft fair would be moved to Virginia Weldon Park. For the simple fact of not having the cost of setting up the stage with sound and lights, and having to have a production company pay to do this. The intimate setting, especially at night with thousands of string lights all across the trees, would be the best and lowest-cost way.
Day 1:
Local music talent show
Day 2:
Faith night, very close to the structure that last year’s event had
Day 3:
Battle of the bands
Alongside the music, we propose a craft fair featuring local makers, small businesses, food vendors, farmers, artists, and community organizations, all in Virginia Weldon Park.
We also want fundraising to be part of the heart of this event. A portion of the fundraising and sponsorship focus should go back to supporting our first responders, the people who protect and serve our community every day.
This is not about bringing back a huge, expensive version of what the festival became. This is about returning to the heart of what the Tennessee Soybean Festival used to represent before it became something else and lost its soul.
Local music.
Local business.
Local talent.
Local pride.
Faith.
First responders.
People gathering together and enjoying each other’s company.
We are forming an Action Committee.
Anyone who signs up for one of these roles needs to understand that this will require real work. Every person on this committee will be expected to physically help, take responsibility, communicate clearly, and bring people together so our community can celebrate growth in the middle of the negativity surrounding our town.
If you are interested in serving in one of the leadership roles below, please sign up.
Director:
Oversees the full organization of the event, keeps the team moving, coordinates communication between committee leaders, and makes sure the plan stays focused and realistic.
Fundraising and Sponsorship Director:
Leads the effort to raise money, secure sponsors, communicate with local businesses, and make sure the event has the resources needed to happen. This role will also help structure fundraising in a way that gives back to our first responders who protect our community.
Vendor and Craft Fair Director:
Organizes local vendors, artists, makers, farmers, food trucks, and small businesses. Handles vendor communication, setup plans, booth spacing, and vendor needs.
Music Director:
Coordinates local artists, bands, sound needs, performance times, and stage flow for the two local music nights.
Faith Night Director:
Coordinates churches, worship teams, speakers, volunteers, and the overall structure of Faith night.
Ground Control:
Handles the physical layout of the event, setup, teardown, parking flow, trash, signage, vendor placement, and general event support during the festival.
Volunteer Coordinator:
Recruits volunteers, assigns shifts, communicates expectations, and makes sure every area has the help it needs.
Marketing and Communication Director: I volunteer as tribute for this position. John Sellers
Handles flyers, social media, press releases, event updates, sponsor recognition, and communication with the public.
City and Infrastructure Liaison:
Communicates with the city, police, fire department, public works, and any other group needed for permits, safety, electricity, bathrooms, trash, and logistics.
Production Manager:
Takes care of all production gear and runs it. This includes lights on the artists, lights in the crowd, sound support, and string lights throughout the park.
This can happen if enough people are willing to stop waiting on someone else and get to work.
Please sign up by following the link to the Google Form. Honestly, if we can get enough people who are willing to put in the hours to make this work, we can do this.
If we do not have enough volunteers sign up, it cannot happen. That is the hard truth.
https://forms.gle/TrgSeTXRgKJNWaHTA
