FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 13, 2024
CONTACT:
Camille Jewell
202-248-5460
cjewell@vancomm.com
Farm Aid 2024: What to Expect
All-day music and food festival engages New York farms, businesses and organizations
ALBANY, N.Y. — Farm Aid 2024, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 21, at Broadview Stage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, will showcase an all-star lineup of musical artists — all donating their performances in support of family farmers and good food. Farm Aid is proud to work with upstate farmers, farm organizations and businesses to bring local flavor and experiences to the event.
“The Farm Aid festival invites so many people to come together and share an essential mission,” said Farm Aid’s Executive Director Carolyn Mugar. “We’re grateful for the farmers, food businesses and local organizations whose good work will be spotlighted throughout the festival, from the stories on our stage to the food we enjoy and the hands-on experiences in our HOMEGROWN Village. It’s energizing to give festivalgoers the opportunity to see how we can all work together to benefit our communities.”
Information about the Farm Aid 2024 festival:
- Festivalgoers are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to support the Regional Food Bank and help fight hunger in the community. Food Bank volunteers will be stationed at both entrances. The Food Bank helps feed 350,000 people each month through a network of more than 1,000 partner agencies and direct distribution programs.
- HOMEGROWN Village (Noon to 5 p.m.) will engage festivalgoers in hands-on activities about climate, soil, water, energy, food and farming. Activities include identifying wild plants that are good for the local habitat, learning about cover crops, visiting with heritage breed livestock and poultry, and much more. Festivalgoers can hear farmers and artists discuss pressing issues, like food access, soil health and climate change, and share inspiring stories on the FarmYard Stage. In the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent, attendees can participate in hands-on demonstrations, including beekeeping, willow weaving and seed saving, to learn agrarian skills and celebrate the cultures of agriculture.
- HOMEGROWN Concessions® will serve food with ingredients that are produced by family farmers utilizing ecological production practices with a fair price paid to the farmers. A varied menu from diverse farmers will offer local pastured beef burgers, pastured pork sausages, an array of delicious cheeses from pasture-based and organic dairies, roasted New York organic Brussels sprouts, watermelon and feta salad, corn dogs from regeneratively grazed beef, cider donuts made from local flour, ice cream from a pasture-based dairy and much more. Farm Aid partners with Legends Hospitality and Live Nation to offer its trademarked HOMEGROWN food.
- Young people from Saratoga County 4-H, The National Grange, FFA’s Saratoga County chapter and Two Bridges Youth Farmers Market will staff the HOMEGROWN Youthmarket Presented by Taste NY. Festivalgoers can meet these young adults, learn about the work they do in their communities, get to know the farms represented and taste fresh fruits, vegetables, cider, juices, cookies and maple candy from local farms and orchards. Donors supporting the HOMEGROWN Youthmarket include Square, Red Jacket Orchards and Indian Ladder Farms.
- HOMEGROWN Catering (which serves artists, crew, volunteers, staff and VIP Experience guests) received in-kind donations from Ace Endico, Chocolates by Esther Pryor, Eco-Products, Frites Street, Frontier Co-op, Ginsberg’s Foods, Hawthorne Valley Farm, Honest Weight Food Co-op, King Arthur Baking Company, Liquid Death, Local Hive Honey, Nixie Beverage Company, Oatly, Organic Valley, Painterland Sisters Organic Skyr Yogurt, Patchwork Family Farms, Row 7 Seed Company, Seven Sundays and Tractor Beverage Co. Culinary programs providing staffing include SUNY Schenectady County Community College and F. Donald Myers Education Center.
- With a goal of zero waste, HOMEGROWN Concessions® uses compostable serviceware and Farm Aid promotes and supports composting in the venue. Loving Earth Compost of Saratoga will receive the composable food waste gathered at Farm Aid 2024.
- Flowers, straw bales and pumpkin décor are being purchased from Old Tavern Farms, Vincek Farm and Troy’s Landscape Supply.
- Farm Aid merchandise will feature T-shirts made in the U.S. with organic cotton from Texas along with hoodies, bandanas, hats, water bottles and more. New limited-edition items include a custom screenprint poster by artist Gary Houston and Wachiay Studio, regenerative leather bracelets stitched by Native artists from Oyate Studio and locally produced leather key fobs.
Additional Farm Aid 2024 details for festivalgoers and fans tuning in at home:
- Farm Aid 2024 will feature performances by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), Margo Price, as well as Mavis Staples, Lukas Nelson with The Travelin’ McCourys, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Charley Crockett, Joy Oladokun, Southern Avenue, Cassandra Lewis, Jesse Welles, Kontiwennenhá:Wi and the Wisdom Indian Dancers.
- Beginning at 12 p.m. ET, SiriusXM subscribers will be able to listen to the full Farm Aid 2024 festival on SiriusXM’s Willie’s Roadhouse (channel 61) and Dave Matthews Band Radio (channel 30) via SiriusXM radio and on the SXM app. The live coverage also will include backstage interviews with artists and family farmers, hosted by SiriusXM’s Dallas Wayne, Ari Fink and Joey Black. Coverage will feature a behind-the-scenes look at Farm Aid 2024 and the organization’s year-round work to strengthen family farm agriculture. This marks the 15th year that SiriusXM has carried the show on satellite radio.
- Farm Aid will livestream the full festival from the stage beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET with the Farm Aid press event at FarmAid.org and on Farm Aid’s YouTube channel. The press event, featuring Farm Aid artists and farmers from across New York, offers fans at home a special opportunity to experience a dynamic conversation between farmers and artists.
Festivalgoers can access the entire Farm Aid experience through the official Farm Aid 2024 mobile app, available now for iPhone and Android devices. Fans will be able to use the app to get details about the HOMEGROWN Concessions® menu, learn the stories of local farmers and make a personalized schedule of music, workshops and artist briefings for the day.
A very limited number of VIP Experience tickets remain available and may be purchased online at farmaid.org/vip. These include access to the best reserved seats as well as the VIP Experience Club with private seating areas, restrooms, merchandise booth, chef pop-ups and delicious family farm-sourced food and snacks served throughout the day.
Farm Aid’s annual online memorabilia auction launches the day of the festival. Collectors and fans will have a chance to bid on rare and unique items, including guitars from Gibson and Epiphone, posters, books, albums, art and other memorabilia signed by artists at Farm Aid 2024. The auction will go live at farmaid.org/auction on Saturday, Sept. 21, and close on Friday, Oct. 4. All proceeds from the sale of items support Farm Aid’s mission.
Sponsors of Farm Aid 2024 include Tractor Beverage Co., Patagonia Workwear, Organic Valley, REI Co-op, Taste NY, Native American Agriculture Fund and Frontier Co-op.
For event updates, follow Farm Aid on X (@FarmAid), Facebook (facebook.com/farmaid) and Instagram (instagram.com/farmaid), and visit farmaid.org/festival. Festivalgoers are encouraged to use the hashtags #FarmAid2024 and #Road2FarmAid to join the conversation on social media around this year’s festival.
Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price host an annual festival to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. For more than 35 years, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised nearly $80 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.
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**Editors, Producers and Photographers Note: Advance credentials are required for all media to attend Farm Aid 2024. Please visit farmaid.org/media by Monday, Sept. 9, to learn about these requirements and apply. Media can download official Farm Aid photos and videos at farmaid.org/media.
