Farm Aid Collaborates With Milwaukee-Area Farmers, Businesses and Organizations to Bring Local Flavor to Historic Benefit Concert

MILWAUKEE, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As Farm Aid gears up for its 25th anniversary concert, Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America, on Saturday, October 2 at Miller Park, Milwaukee-area farmers, businesses and non-profit organizations are putting their mark on the historic event. Farm Aid is teaming up with the Eat Well Guide to encourage concertgoers to seek out farm-fresh food at restaurants, grocery stores, farmers markets and other venues throughout Wisconsin. At the concert, Farm Aid is partnering with organizations to help achieve zero waste goals; to inform concertgoers about the work family farmers do to protect our economy, our environment and our health in the HOMEGROWN Village; and to bring family farm-sourced ingredients to HOMEGROWN Concessions.

Information about local flavor at Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America:

• Farm Aid's HOMEGROWN Village will feature hands-on activities that give concertgoers a chance to meet farmers, get their hands dirty, and learn about the ways family farmers are enriching our soil, protecting our water, and growing green energy in addition to bringing us good food. From beekeeping and composting to preserving and seed saving, concertgoers can learn more about the roots of their food.
• Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America will feature food with local or organic, family farm-sourced ingredients at concessions. The Farm Aid concert is the biggest family farm restaurant in Milwaukee and it's open for one day only! HOMEGROWN Concessions include burgers, veggie burgers, pizza, hot dogs, veggie dogs, jalapeno corndogs, bratwursts and sausages, cheese curds and French fries. HOMEGROWN Concessions will also feature BBQ ham steaks, pork chops, and pulled pork sandwiches from Patchwork Family Farms, and a farmers market where concertgoers can buy fresh, local fruit and baked goods. For a preview of Farm Aid's HOMEGROWN concessions, media are invited to attend the "Taste of Farm Aid" event on October 1 from 4:30 – 9:00 a.m.
• Farm Aid has partnered with the sustainability advocacy organization Eat Well Guide to create a special edition Farm Aid 25 Eat Well Guide to direct concertgoers to farm-fresh food throughout Wisconsin. The special guide is a free resource and includes listings of restaurants, grocery stores, farmers markets and other venues where you can find locally grown and sustainable food options while in Milwaukee. In addition, those road-tripping to the concert can use the innovative Eat Well En Route mapping tool for good food options along the route to Miller Park. Concertgoers can print the guide or download it to a mobile device at www.eatwellguide.org/farmaid25.
• Farm Aid is partnering with Milwaukee businesses to help achieve zero waste goals at Miller Park. With the help of Oconomowoc-based White Oak Farm, all compostable waste at the concert will be turned into Purple Cow Organics Activated Compost with Micro Life. This scientifically formulated, tested, and certified premium compost can be purchased in Wisconsin at over 35 different retail locations and will soon be available nationwide. Volunteers from Milwaukee Community Compost Network, a project of Victory Garden Initiative, will be working hand in hand with White Oak Farm at Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America to help concertgoers differentiate between landfill-bound trash and recyclables like plastics and compostables like food residuals and certified compostable foodservice-ware.  
• Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America volunteers and production staff will be transported to Miller Park in the nation's largest plug-in electric hybrid school bus fleet. A plug-in electric hybrid school bus combines an electric motor powered by rechargeable batteries that are charged by renewable electrical energy harvested from the sun through photovoltaic panels with an internal combustion engine that runs on biodiesel.
• Farm Aid is calling on concertgoers to bring non-perishable food items with them to the concert for a food drive that will benefit Milwaukee's Hunger Task Force. The Hunger Task Force will be at Miller Park on October 2 collecting food that will be delivered free of charge to area food banks in the local Milwaukee community. Suggested donation items include canned fruits and vegetables, cereal, hearty cold weather meals like stew and soup, and peanut butter. Learn more about the Hunger Task Force at www.hungertaskforce.org.

Additional Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America details for concertgoers and fans at home:

• Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America will feature performances by Farm Aid president and founder Willie Nelson and board members John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Dave Matthews, as well as Kenny Chesney, Norah Jones, Jason Mraz, Jeff Tweedy, Band of Horses, Amos Lee, Robert Francis, BoDeans, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Randy Rogers Band and The Blackwood Quartet. Doors for the event will open at 12:00 p.m. CDT.
• For fans at home, DIRECTV will exclusively broadcast Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America live and in HD on The 101 Network beginning at 5:00 pm CDT. DIRECTV has pledged to match all of its customer donations made between September 1 and October 31, 2010, up to $50,000.
• Willie Nelson's SIRIUS XM music channel, Willie's Place (SIRIUS channel 64 and XM channel 13), will broadcast Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America live from Miller Park on October 2 beginning at 1 p.m. CDT. In addition to the entire live concert, Willie's Place listeners will hear backstage interviews and behind-the-scenes coverage hosted by SIRIUS XM's Dallas Wayne.
• Farm Aid has partnered with Auction Cause to bring fans the unique opportunity to own a piece of Farm Aid history. Fans can bid on incredible items from the Farm Aid vault, including one-of-a-kind autographed guitars. The auction will begin on Friday, October 1 at 9:00 CDT and run through Monday, October 11, at http://3.ly/farmaid.

Join the Farm Aid conversation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FarmAid. For more information about Farm Aid, visit www.farmaid.org.  

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 and Dave Matthews host an annual concert to raise funds to support Farm Aid's work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family-farmed food. Since 1985, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $37 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.

SOURCE Farm Aid