For the first time in more than 20 years, Farm Aid is returning to Indiana. Ruoff Music Center will hold the all-day music and food event on Sept. 23, the organization announced Tuesday.
With the help of a star slate of artists, the annual festival raises money to support family farmers and encourage people to buy their food. Farm Aid 2023 will include board members Willie Nelson; Neil Young; John Mellencamp; Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds); and Margo Price. Also on the bill are Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros featuring The Wolfpack; Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats; Lukas Nelson; Allison Russell; The String Cheese Incident; and Particle Kid.
“We are honored and excited to bring the Farm Aid experience back to Indiana,” said Farm Aid co-founder Mellencamp in the release. “My home state holds deep meaning for me and for the generations of family farmers who have dedicated their lives to caring for the Earth and bringing us good food.”
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2023 Farm Aid Indiana tickets, info
Concessions will be developed with ingredients from family farmers, and activities will include exhibits about soil, water, energy, food and farming.
Tickets — with prices ranging from $75 to $315 — will go on sale at livenation.com starting at 10 a.m. Saturday. Limited pre-sale tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday at farmaid.org/tickets.
This year’s festival will honor Indiana family farmers and those who are tackling climate change through regenerative, organic and sustainable farming practices, according to a news release, which also cited problems that include pollution in Indiana’s rivers and streams as well as manure runoff from large animal feeding operations.
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Farm Aid 2023 will be Indiana’s third. Indianapolis’ Hoosier Dome hosted Farm Aid IV in 1990, with Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, Iggy Pop, John Prine and Guns N’ Roses, among the performers. Tickets sold out in less than 90 minutes, according to IndyStar archives.
Farm Aid 2001: A Concert for America played to a sold-out crowd in Noblesville weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Martina McBride, the Doobie Brothers, Arlo Guthrie, Susan Tedeschi and Matthews — in his first year as a festival board member — were among the performers.
Nelson, Young and Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985.
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