Farm Aid 2024 arrives at Broadview Stage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Saturday, September 21, with preparations in store for a full day of live music, farming education and festival events that make the day long event an annual affair a can’t miss show for the whole family.
Even if you won’t be in Saratoga Springs, you can still be a part of the annual excitement that Farm Aid brings. Watch on FarmAid.org or the Farm Aid YouTube channel where they will livestream the full festival (including a press event) from the Broadview stage beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Additionally, SiriusXM subscribers can listen to Farm Aid 2024 starting at noon ET on SiriusXM’s Willie’s Roadhouse (channel 61) and Dave Matthews Band Radio (channel 30) via SiriusXM radio and on the SXM app. Live coverage will include backstage interviews with artists and family farmers, hosted by SiriusXM’s Dallas Wayne, Ari Fink and Joey Black. Eligible customers can get their first three months of SiriusXM streaming for free. Click here to see offer details, sign up and experience all that SiriusXM has to offer.
Here’s a step-by-step guide for an awesome Farm Aid 2024 festival!
First and foremost – get the Farm Aid 2024 app: Download the Farm Aid 2024 app for iPhone and Android to personalize your festival experience. Use it to get details about the HOMEGROWN Concessions® menu, learn the stories of local farmers, and make a schedule of music, workshops and artist briefings for the day. The app includes photo frames so that you can share your Farm Aid 2024 experiences.
Get your hands dirty: In the HOMEGROWN Village, you can celebrate and engage in the cultures of agriculture. From noon until 5:00pm, experience hands-on activities about climate, soil, water, energy, food and farming. Check out the FarmYard Stage where farmers and artists will discuss pressing issues, like food access, soil health and climate change and share inspiring stories. In the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent participate in hands-on demonstrations, including beekeeping, willow weaving and mushroom growing.
Discover the Music and More from Farm Aid 2007 at Randall’s Island – the first Farm Aid in New York State!
Swap Seeds: Join the annual HOMEGROWN Seed Swap! Bring seeds from home and come on down to the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent to meet enthusiastic seed savers, swap seeds and go home with new varieties to try (you can even take home seeds even if you have none to swap). If you’re bringing seeds keep them domestic, please, and bring them in a sealed and labeled envelope.
Meet a Farmer: Introduce yourself to a farmer! We’re here to celebrate farmers and they’ll be all around at Farm Aid 2024 at SPAC. Look for people wearing a “farmer” pass, enjoy their food at HOMEGROWN Concessions® and hear from them on the FarmYard Stage and in the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent.
Eat HOMEGROWN: We’re proud to offer family farm food throughout the venue. Our HOMEGROWN Concessions® contains ingredients produced by family farmers utilizing ecological production practices with a fair price paid to the farmers. Check out menu items like: local pastured beef burgers, pastured pork sausages, delicious cheeses from pasture-based and organic dairies, watermelon and feta salad, cider donuts made from local flour and much more. Farm Aid partners with Legends Hospitality and Live Nation to offer HOMEGROWN Concessions®.
Want to learn about how HOMEGROWN Concessions® started and how it’s changing the live music industry? Take a listen to a brand-new podcast episode where farmers and eaters unite!
Make Soil: Be passionate about composting and recycling! 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 food waste gathered at Farm Aid 2024 to make future soil.
Revisit the last time Farm Aid was at SPAC in 2013!
Wear the mission on your T-shirt: Take home a Farm Aid at SPAC t-shirt, hoodie, bandana or hat. 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. Our online store is open for pre-orders!
Support the Regional Food Bank: Festivalgoers are encouraged to bring non-perishable, unopened items in original packaging. Grains, soups, proteins and personal hygiene items are highly desired. No glass or pet food, please! 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.100% of the fresh, nutritious food grown on the Regional Food Bank’s farm, Patroon Land Farm, goes to the clients of the Food Bank!
Chat with a volunteer: So many folks donate their time to create an incredible Farm Aid experience for all festivalgoers. Our team (in the volunteer t-shirts) is ready to help out in any way!
Eat apples at the HOMEGROWN Youthmarket Presented by Taste NY: Come to our farm stand run by young people who care about agriculture. This year’s HOMEGROWN Youthmarkets will be staffed by young people from Saratoga County 4-H, The National Grange, FFA’s Saratoga County chapter and Two Bridges Youth Farmers Market. 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.
If you’re joining NYS Music for Farm Aid this weekend at SPAC, make sure to read through the venue rules and make sure your bag meets the guidelines! And keep an eye out for special guests – the late Pete Seeger joined Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews and John Mellencamp on stage for an unforgettable performance of “This Land is Your Land.” Watch below.
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