Today we’d like to introduce you to Grady Martin.
Grady Martin is a man passionate about the German history of Tomball, its people and sustaining the German language and culture. Every year, he plans and organizes both the Tomball German Heritage Festival and the German Christmas Market to celebrate German culture with festival attendees all through-out Texas.
A self-proclaimed “German Texan,” part German, English and Scotch-Irish, Martin was born in Brookhaven, Mississippi, lived in Bogue Chitto, Mississippi and finally relocated and settled in Texas when he was 28.
His wife, Sandy, was born in Germany. They met in Houston on Election Day 1986 and married in 1989. Together, they share a love for the German culture.
Martin owned his own commercial roofing company for 32 years until he sold it and retired at the age of 66. From there, he began to devote more time to the German Heritage Festivals.
The journey from Tomball’s first German Heritage Festival 17 years ago to today is interwoven with his fondness for the German culture, Tomball’s German descendants and the development of the Tomball Sister City Organization.
According to Martin, in 1996 Christian Tiews was working at Salem Lutheran Church and began translating archives from German settlers that started the church in 1851. His wife, Lula, born in Telgte, Germany, noticed “many similarities between Tomball and her hometown.” Many of Tomball’s original German settlers came from North Rhine-Westphalia, and the state of Hessen. Telgte is in North Rhine-Westphalia.
“Tomball was the doorway to the Texas-German Belt. German farmers came to Texas to buy good land for a dollar an acre,” Martin said. In 2000, the Tomball Sister City Organization or ToSCO, was formally established. It is a non-profit organization “formed for the purpose of the establishment, sponsorship, promotion and support of cultural, business, educational, diplomatic and other exchanges with Tomball’s sister city – Telgte, Germany.” Martin is the president and his wife, Sandy, is the treasurer. They both work as volunteers.
ToSCO sponsors exchange students each year from Telgte, Germany. To date, the organization has sponsored a total of 56 exchange students from Telgte and eight Texas students to Telgte. There is no German heritage required for Texas students. They simply need enough interest in the German language and the culture, Martin noted.
Martin said he “always knew he wanted to learn to speak German.” In 1993, on his first trip to Germany, he did not speak one word of German. He told a story of a handshake agreement over a beer with his brother-in-law, Klaus, to learn German and in turn, his brother-in-law would learn English.
Upon returning, he enrolled at Lone Star College and took German courses followed by private lessons for three years. Martin takes pride that he won the bet and can speak German.
After the trip to Germany, both he and Sandy were excited about “anything German.” Martin founded the Tomball German Heritage Festival. Both he and Sandy are co-chairs of the festival. The German Fest, as it is called today, began in spring 17 years ago to raise money for 40 students from Salem Lutheran Church in Tomball to travel to Telgte. ToSCO sponsors the German Fest each year.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
People didn’t realize Tomball was a Texas German town in this area. We lost our complete identity before we started having the German Festival. I was looking for something to raise a little money, bring something to the community and raise awareness of German culture.
In 2000, the first Tomball German Heritage Festival was a flatbed trailer with an Oompah band and no vendors. “There were more people in the band of five than people that showed up,” Martin chuckled. The next three festival years were the same with very little money available.
In 2004, former Tomball Mayor “Hap” Harrington, helped the German Fest get a boost under his leadership when the city council approved the selling of beer at the festival. The goal was to take baby steps each year to grow the festival.
Each year at the end of the festival, Martin would put the excess money accumulated and put it toward next year’s festival. The years 2004 to 2008, the German Fest began to get bigger overall in vendors, food, entertainment, festival space and festival attendees. Tomball Mayor Gretchen Fagan approached Martin in 2009 and asked him to try a German Christmas Market. The Tomball German Christmas Market and Festival now has an average of more than 200 vendors each year. In 2016, it was ranked #5 nationally for top German Christmas Markets in the U.S. by Travelmag.com, and in 2015 #3 by BuzzFeed.com.
The biggest revenue source for both festivals are the vendors since admission is free to both events. Martin said he will continue working with both the German Fest and Christmas Market “as long as he can” but he already has a plan. The Tomball City Council has agreed to let him train a replacement so the festivals can continue every year.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I don’t work for a salary. It’s been like a calling for me. I’ve always felt like I am supposed to do this.
Contact Info:
- Address: 600 Kane Street, Tomball, TX 77375
- Website: www.tomballgermanfest.org
- Phone: 713-829-7116
- Email: gradsand@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomballgermanfest/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tomballgermanfestivals
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomballgermanfe
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tomball-german-heritage-festival-tomball
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