"Yoakum is on the Lavaca-DeWitt county line. It was built on a league of land granted to John May by the government of Coahuila y Texas in 1835 and was used as a gathering ground for cattle to be driven up the Chisholm Trail... The May Tom-Tom Festival, which first publicized the tomato business, began in 1928, was suspended for five years in World War II, and resumed in 1946. The annual event now celebrates the local leather industry and is called the Leather Tom-Tom Festival"