Farm Aid 2023: What to Expect
All-day music and food festival highlights Indiana farms, businesses and organizations
INDIANAPOLIS — Farm Aid 2023, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 23, at Ruoff Music 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 many Indiana farmers and businesses to bring local flavor and experiences to the event.
“We’re energized by the number of Indiana communities that are working together to expand local food systems and farmers making transitions to regenerative farming practices. We’re honored to be able to incorporate their work across the festival,” said Farm Aid’s Executive Director Carolyn Mugar. “From farmers on our many stages and enticing food from local farms to interactive experiences about farming, soil and water in our HOMEGROWN Village, the Farm Aid 2023 festival experience will demonstrate how farmers and eaters are working together for the health of our planet.”
Information about the Farm Aid 2023 festival:
- HOMEGROWN Village (Noon to 5 p.m.) will engage festivalgoers in hands-on activities about climate, soil, water, energy, food and farming. Festivalgoers can hear farmers and artists discuss pressing issues and share inspiring stories on the FarmYard Stage. In the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent, attendees can participate in demonstrations to learn agrarian skills and celebrate the culture 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 Indiana pastured beef burgers, stuffed organic russet potatoes with toppings, blackened shrimp tacos from a Louisiana shrimper, Indiana pastured beef hot dogs topped with brisket from Indiana certified grass-fed beef, roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted local, non-GMO elote and kettle corn. Farm Aid partners with Legends Hospitality and Live Nation to offer HOMEGROWN Food.
- HOMEGROWN Youthmarket will sell fresh and seasonal produce, grown locally on family farms. HOMEGROWN Youthmarket will be staffed by young people from FFA’s Hamilton Southeastern student chapter, Human Agriculture Co-operative in Fort Wayne and The Grange. 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, pecans and baked goods.
- HOMEGROWN Catering (which serves artists, crew, volunteers, staff and VIP Experience guests) received in-kind donations from: Applegate Natural and Organic Meat, Eco-Products, Frontier Co-op, Liquid Death Drink Company, Local Hive Honey, Lundberg Family Farms, Natur-Bag, Oatly, Parkhurst Dining Services, Patagonia Provisions, Patchwork Family Farms, Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs, Piazza Produce, Rotella’s Italian Bakery, Seven Sundays, Spindrift Beverage Co. and Wildflower Ridge Honey. Culinary students from Ivy Tech Community Colleges, J. Everett Light Career Center and New Castle Career Center will participate with chefs in preparation and service for HOMEGROWN Catering.
- With a goal of zero waste, HOMEGROWN Concessions® uses compostable service ware and Farm Aid promotes and supports composting in the venue. This will be the first time that composting is done at Ruoff Music Center. Indiana’s GreenCycle will receive the composable food waste. Second Helpings of Indianapolis will pick up and utilize any remaining foodstuffs from HOMEGROWN Catering.
- On the FarmYard Stage, farmers and artists will discuss pressing issues and share inspiring stories showcasing food and farming in the region and across the country. Topics of conversation include climate-resilient farming, soil and water health, and equity in the farm and food system.
- In the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent, festivalgoers can learn how to make pancakes from local grains, distill essential oils, make dyes from plants, spin wool and make tools. Additionally, the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent will conduct a seed swap and a grazing demonstration with sheep from Blooming Soil Farm.
- Flowers, straw bales and pumpkin décor are being purchased from The Local Food Hub and sourced from the following Indiana farmers: Shady Grove Flower Farm, Firm Root Farm, Flying Dirt Farm, Holloway’s Gardens, Something Somehow Simply Amazing, Balanced Harvest Farm, Wilson Farm Market and Stuckey Farm Orchard and Cider Mill.
- Farm Aid’s merchandise will feature T-shirts, totes, hoodies and jean jackets made with organic cotton, screen-printed at a union shop.
Additional Farm Aid 2023 details for festivalgoers and fans tuning in at home:
- Farm Aid 2023 will feature performances by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), and Margo Price, as well as The Jim Irsay Band featuring Ann Wilson of Heart, Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros featuring The Wolfpack, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson, Allison Russell, The String Cheese Incident, Particle Kid, Clayton Anderson, The Black Opry featuring Lori Rayne, Tylar Bryant and Kyshona, Native Pride Productions, and the Wisdom Indian Dancers.
- Circle Network will broadcast the festival on television beginning at 7 p.m. ET, with live and prerecorded segments from Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana. Circle also will stream Farm Aid 2023 on its app, Circle Now, available for free in app stores, throughout the day, beginning with the press event at 11:30 a.m. Fans can find Circle Network on DISH Network, over the air with an antenna and on many cable TV channel lineups across the country. Visit FindCircleNetwork.com to learn more about how to watch Circle Network. The show also will be available on Circle Country via streaming platforms, including Roku, Samsung TV Plus, Peacock, VIZIO SmartCast, Xumo, Tubi, Redbox and more.
- Beginning at noon ET, SiriusXM subscribers will be able to listen to the full Farm Aid 2023 festival on SiriusXM’s Willie’s Roadhouse (channel 61), Dave Matthews Band Radio (channel 30) and Grateful Dead Channel (channel 23) 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 and Ari Fink. All coverage will feature a behind-the-scenes look at Farm Aid 2023 and the organization’s year-round work to strengthen family farm agriculture.
- FarmAid.org and Farm Aid’s YouTube channel will livestream Farm Aid 2023 beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET with the Farm Aid press event. The press event, featuring Farm Aid artists and farmers from across the region, 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 2023 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 limited number of VIP Experience tickets remain available at farmaid.org/viptickets. These include access to the best reserved seats as well as the VIP lounge 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 and other memorabilia signed by artists at Farm Aid 2023. The auction will go live at farmaid.org/auction on Saturday, September 23, and close on Friday, October 6. All proceeds from the sale of items support Farm Aid’s mission to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America.
Sponsors of Farm Aid 2023 include Hard Truth Distilling Company, Patagonia Workwear, Spindrift, Frontier Co-Op and Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs.
For event updates, follow Farm Aid on Twitter (@FarmAid), Facebook (facebook.com/farmaid) and Instagram (instagram.com/farmaid), and visit farmaid.org/festival. Festivalgoers are encouraged to use the hashtags #FarmAid2023 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 more than $70 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.