FLINT, MI — There is a working cigarette machine at Soggy Bottom Bar, but what’s inside isn’t what you’d expect.

It’s contents are open to interpretation and meant to inspire be enjoyed.

No, it does not dispense cigarettes. It dispenses art.

And not just any art, but works by local Flint artists — a mini Flint art market now known and branded as the MarTket.

Jewel Brown, 26 of Flint, said she first had the idea while working at Factory Two when a larger vending machine came through that needed repairs.

Brown, a 2017 Flint Kearsley graduate who grew up on the city’s east side, knew she wanted to make something unique and to give a voice to artists from the start.

But now, she needed to buy an old cigarette vending machine. The one that came in was too expensive for her pocketbook.

So, she did what anyone would — she turned to Facebook Marketplace in hopes of finding a cheaper one. And in August 2024, she found one for sale in Metcalf, Illinois.

“It was a teeny, tiny town in southern Illinois,” Brown said. “The lady who sold it to me was so sweet. She had been running the bar she just bought two years ago. She had still been selling cigarettes out of it, and just decided she didn’t want to deal with the hassle anymore.”

Brown borrowed a truck from friends Jeff and Mary Mintline, even having help from Will Mintline, who drove with her to provide some extra muscle to retrieve the new dispensary device.

Brown said she was fortunate the machine was in good condition with fully working slots. Though, she admitted, it needed a deep clean, calling it “pretty, pretty grody.”

“I knew the idea right from the get — I knew it was going to be local artists. That was my intention the whole time,” Brown said. “My goal is to make Flint artists’ art more accessible for people. Not only in Flint, but people who are visiting Flint.”

That’s why Brown said it was crucial to have a home for the MarTket machine in Soggy Bottom Bar in downtown Flint — one of the city’s most popular bars.

Brown and Soggy Bottom’s regulars even threw a party for its grand reveal in March.

“The place was packed,” Brown said, noting she invited all the participating artists. “And a few artists sold out completely, which was awesome.”

The art vending machine holds up to 22 artists’ work at a time, and, Brown said happily, she has not had to turn a single artist away.

Inside the vending machine, you’ll find art in the style of poetry, zines, photographs, stained glass, leather, prints, collages and paintings.

“I really wanted to make sure there was a lot of options — something that everyone would enjoy,” Brown said. “I think Flint has a really rich art scene, but accessibility to it is not always there. So, a lot of times when we think about Flint art, the first things that are going to come to mind are the FIA and Buckham Gallery. And for a lot of these artists and a lot of people, these things are not super easily accessible.

“I think Flint does a great job of combating that with things like Art Walks where it’s a much more casual way to get involved in the arts community, giving an opportunity to see what the Flint arts community has to offer. But really the goal with it is to keep it affordable for people.”

Everything in the MarTket vending machine is $5, and artists get 60% of each purchase. Brown said it was important to her to ensure artists are compensated fairly as well.

The remainder of the money goes into packing materials and repairs to sustain the machine.

But Brown’s ambitions for the project don’t stop there. She aims to have two more by the end of the year, but in a different style and at other locations.

She plans to do the same with a full-size snack vending machine and a sticker vending machine as well.

The MarTket is stationed in the secondary room to the right after you enter Soggy Bottom Bar, located at 613 Martin Luther King Ave. in Flint.

You can follow the MarTket on Facebook and Instagram.

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Birmingham cornerback Shyheim Carter broke up a pass in the end zone on the final snap to preserve the Stallions’ 26-22 victory over the Michigan Panthers on Saturday.

Carter’s pass-breakup was Birmingham’s second in the end zone of the final 15 seconds in a dramatic and hard-fought end to a game that supposedly didn’t mean anything.

The Stallions and Panthers are tied for the lead in the United Football League‘s USFL Conference at 6-3 with one weekend remaining in the regular season. The teams already had secured the conference’s two playoff spots, and, by completing a season sweep of Michigan, Birmingham would have locked up the right to host the USFL Conference Championship Game if they remain tied through one more game.

But that was not at stake on Saturday. Because of a scheduling conflict at Ford Field in Detroit, the UFL already had assigned the USFL Conference Championship Game to Birmingham regardless of how the teams finished in the standings.

That appeared to affect the game not a whit as the Stallions took the lead twice in the fourth quarter and made the second rally stand up.

Birmingham quarterback J’Mar Smith completed 22-of-31 passes for 307 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Both touchdowns went 19 yards to wide receiver Deon Cain. The first, with 1:54 left in the first half, allowed the Stallions to tie the game at 7-7. The second, with 2:22 remaining in the game, put Birmingham in front 26-22 after Cain had twisted and turned his way across the goal line.

Michigan quarterback Danny Etling answered Cain’s second TD by completing 8-of-9 passes for 66 yards to put the Panthers on the Stallions 9-yard line with 21 seconds to play.

Etling used a spike on first down to stop the clock. Birmingham linebacker Demarquis Gates broke up Etling’s second-down pass. Wide receiver Jaylon Moore caught the third-down pass, but he was out of bounds. And Carter, a former Alabama defensive back, broke up the fourth-down throw.

“The defense was able to get the stop,” Stallions coach Skip Holtz said. “I would have liked to have gotten the stop with two minutes to go on the 30-yard line. But nonetheless we made the stop.”

Of all the plays in the game, though, nothing surpassed Birmingham wide receiver Cade Johnson’s catch of a third-and-10 throw for a 57-yard gain on the first play of the fourth quarter. With the Stallions trailing 16-13, Johnson got his hands on a long throw by Smith, had the football knocked away by cornerback Keni-H Lovely and caught the pass while he was falling to the ground.

The candidate for UFL Catch of the Year served as the springboard for Birmingham’s first lead at 20-16 as running back Larry Rountree III scored his second touchdown of the game on a 1-yard plunge with 11:23 left to play. Rountree scored his first touchdown on a 14-yard run with 6:08 left in the third quarter to tie the score at 13-13.

After Rountree’s second touchdown, a 45-yard Etling-to-Siaosi Mariner completion fueled a touchdown drive for Michigan. Running back Toa Taua’s 2-yard tote gave the Panthers a 22-20 lead with 7:47 remaining.

On the way to regaining the lead for the final time, Birmingham converted two third-down snaps and scored on a third-down throw. For the game, the Stallions succeeded in gaining a first down on 11 of their 13 third-down snaps, including a 26-yard reception by Johnson on third-and-26 and a 48-yard reception by Jalen Camp on third-and-24. Three of Birmingham’s touchdowns came on third down.

“I thought J’Mar stood in there and threw some clutch balls,” Holtz said. “By the stats, I don’t know if this is accurate, but we were 11-of-13 on third down, which is pretty stinking good.”

The Stallions close the regular season against the Memphis Showboats at 2 p.m. CDT June 1 at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee. FOX will televise the game.

“If we can continue what we’re doing for one more week,” Holtz said, “we’re not playing in Birmingham because we have to, we’re playing in Birmingham because they’ve earned it.”

Michigan and Birmingham will meet again in the USFL Conference Championship Game at 2 p.m. June 8 at Protective Stadium. The winner will advance to the UFL Championship Game, a contest won by the Stallions last season.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

Michigan State football earned the walk-on commitment from Jack Lansing, a 3-star linebacker from Hartland (MI) earlier this month. Now, the in-state product has scheduled his official visit to Michigan State.

Lansing, a 6’0″ and 200 pound linebacker that plays at Hartland High School, is a highly valued walk-on commitment, ranking very high for a walk-on as an 84 rated 3-star according to 247Sports. While he may begin as a preferred walk-on, the opportunity to begin his career on scholarship or gain a scholarship while on campus is still very much a possibility.

The Spartans value in-state recruiting, and adding a prospect like Lansing shows their importance on making sure no prospect falls through the cracks on their watch.

Lansing’s trip to East Lansing will be starting on June 20.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on X @Cory_Linsner