For the past 25 years, Farm Aid has held almost annual concerts across the United States in an effort to raise funds and awareness for the nation’s family farmers. To celebrate this year’s anniversary milestone, the event will take place at a ballpark for the first time in its lengthy history.
Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America, scheduled for October 2 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI, was announced today in a press conference with event co-founders Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp.
“I always look forward to seeing my old buddies — John and Neil [Young] and Dave [Matthews] — and all the guys who have helped us do Farm Aid over the years,” Nelson said during the conference, which streamed live on Farm Aid’s official Web site.
“We need to take care of the family farmers. At one time, we were trying to save the family farmers and now we need the family farmers to save us,” Nelson continued, citing a need for affordable, locally grown food and energy sources.
Public ticket sales Farm Aid 25 begin August 14, and ticket prices for the one-day event will range from $39.50 to $97.50.
Both Nelson and Mellencamp, along with repeat Farm Aid performers Young and Matthews, will play the fall 2010 event. Additional details about the event and its lineup will be announced as available on the Farm Aid site.
In addition to being the first ballpark-hosted Farm Aid event, this year’s concert will also be the first staged in Wisconsin. Since 1992, Wisconsin-based organizations have received $273,800 in funds raised by the event, according to figures released by Farm Aid.
Farm Aid was founded in 1985 by Nelson, Mellencamp and Young, all of whom have become fixtures of the concert lineup. In the years since its creation, the event has usually been limited to a single day in September or October, though Nelson took the concert on tour in 1989.
Except for two consecutive seasons (1997-98) in Tinley Park, IL, Farm Aid also changes venues and host cities each year. Farm Aid 2009 took place at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Maryland Heights, MO, while Farm Aid 2008 was based out of Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA.
