By Katie Northcott, News Director
After citizens demonstrated interest in reviving Tullahoma’s Soapbox Derby, the Tullahoma Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA) voted to provide labor for the event.
At a BOMA meeting on Monday, Jan. 12, three citizens made public comments asking BOMA to add an item to approve funding for the derby to the meeting agenda. The derby was pulled from this year’s budget after the 2025 event was canceled due to lack of participation.
The derby was added to the agenda along with a discussion of Planning Commissioner appointments with a vote of 5-1-0-1 (Alderman Busch Thoma opposed; Alderman Sernobia McGee absent).
Tullahoma Parks and Recreation Director J. P. Kraft told BOMA that the derby usually incurred about $18,000 of labor costs and $5,000 of equipment costs. Kraft recommended that BOMA make its support contingent on a minimum amount of participation.
Those representing the derby at the meeting said that participants could fundraise the equipment cost if BOMA could cover labor costs.
Kraft also explained that because his department was already allocated money for labor over the course of the year, BOMA did not need to amend the budget to support the event.
Most of the members of BOMA were supportive of the event, saying it added value to the community. However, Thoma was concerned about the event’s cost.
“This is absolutely a great program because it gets parents and kids involved with each other,” Alderman Jerry Mathis said in response to Thoma’s concerns. “I agree that we need to have a minimum number in order to do this. But we can’t be worrying about [a cost of] $1,000 [per kid] because we spend that much on every program we have in Tullahoma.”
BOMA agreed to support the event if a minimum of 30 participants signed up. The vote was 5-1-0-1 (Thoma opposed; McGee absent).
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