FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 14, 2016
CONTACT:
Brittany Vanderpool
202-248-5487
bvanderpool@vancomm.com
Food from Regional Family Farms Stars at Farm Aid 2016
The Washington Post presents The FarmYard Stage at the all-day music and food festival, hosting discussions around issues facing DMV farmers
Bristow, Va. — Farm Aid 2016, at Jiffy Lube Live on Saturday, Sept. 17, will bring together an all-star lineup and 20,000 fans to shine a spotlight on good food and family farmers.
Farm Aid has invited DMV area farmers, businesses and organizations to offer festivalgoers hands-on activities and experiences that showcase the stories of food and farming in the region and across the country. Local, regional and national farm groups will participate in Farm Aid’s HOMEGROWN Village, engaging festivalgoers with activities about the work family farmers do to protect our communities, soil and water and health. Farm Aid also reached out to local farmers and businesses to source ingredients for HOMEGROWN Concessions®, partnering with Legends Hospitality, the concessionaire at Jiffy Lube Live.
The Washington Post has partnered with Farm Aid this year to host The FarmYard Stage, located in the HOMEGROWN Village. Throughout the day, the Post’s food and dining editor Joe Yonan and food writer Tim Carman will moderate live briefings from artists, farmers and farm activists on important issues in food and farming.
Information about the local flavor at Farm Aid 2016:
- HOMEGROWN Concessions® will bring concertgoers family farm-sourced foods that conform to its criteria: food that is sustainably produced by family farmers, utilizing ecological practices, with a commitment to a fair price for farmers. Menu items include humanely raised meat, local and organic produce and ingredients and bread made with organic flour.
- Festivalgoers will enjoy menu items sourced from local-area farms such as Sullivan’s Pond Farm, Whiffletree Farm and Great Oak Farm. Moo-Thru, the popular Virginia ice cream shop, will provide a sweet treat for festival attendees. Moo-Thru milk and cream comes from owner Ken Smith’s dairy herd and the company will source fruits from local farms for its Farm Aid 2016 flavors. Jirani, a Manassas coffeehouse, will serve coffee and desserts, while Hidden Julles “The Rambler” food truck, from Haymarket, Va., and The Bone, from Manassas, Va., will serve a variety of sandwiches. Virginia peanuts will also be featured.
- For the second year in a row, Legends Hospitality’s chef is creating specialty menus for Farm Aid 2016 that adhere to Farm Aid’s criteria, including chicken tenders from Shenandoah Valley Organic farmers; a soba noodle salad; a grains, greens and beans bowl; potato wedges with choice of toppings; hotdogs, cheeseburgers and mushroom burgers. Two “Farm Fresh” stands will feature charcuterie from Virginia-based Olli Salumeria, cheese from Virginia’s Bonnyclabber Cheese Co. and organic, fair trade chocolates.
- HOMEGROWN Youthmarket, a farm stand staffed by local youth engaged in agriculture, will sell fresh local fruit from Local Food Hub and Produce Source Partners. Youthmarket staffers come from The Neighborhood Resource Center, a grassroots educational and cultural center in the East End of Richmond, Va.; La Cocina, a bilingual culinary training program and Common Good Farm, whose mission is to grow food, educate and help low-income D.C. community members meet their food needs.
- Beverages at the venue will feature Bonterra Organic Vineyards, the official wine of Farm Aid 2016, Prairie Organic spirits and craft beers from Lagunitas, as well as local craft beer and wines.
- Farm Aid’s HOMEGROWN Village (from noon to 5:30 p.m.) will feature hands-on activities that give festivalgoers a chance to meet farmers, dig in and learn about the ways family farmers are enriching our soil, protecting our water and growing our economy, in addition to bringing us good food for good health. From Chesapeake Foodshed “Jeopardy” to learning about industrial hemp, to spinning the Wheel of Farming and Fishing, festivalgoers can discover the roots of their food and how agriculture matters to all of us.
- In the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent, concertgoers can engage with food, farming and crafting through workshops that teach them to make digestive bitters, transform hemp stalks into paper, ferment pickles or sauerkraut and learn about the importance of seed saving.
- Farm Aid’s HOMEGROWN Concessions® food service promotes a zero-waste food service protocol. All compostable waste at the concert will be turned into valuable agricultural material to improve the health of the soil. A sizeable volunteer effort will be on hand to help concertgoers differentiate between landfill-bound trash, recyclables, like plastic or aluminum, and compostables, such as food waste and compostable food service ware. Maryland-based business, Veteran Compost, will haul and process the compost.
- Local Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. farms and farmers will be featured on the video screen on the main stage. Farm Aid worked with a number of photographers to obtain photos to reflect the farmers and agriculture in the region and nation. Featured photographers include: Molly M. Peterson, a Virginia farmer and professional photographer; Lise Metzger of Virginia, who documents the rise of female farmers through her project Grounded Women; Patty O’Brien of Pennsylvania; and Sabine Carey, a Pennsylvania farmer and photographer.
- All Farm Aid 2016 T-shirts are made with organic cotton, and the official logo concert T-shirt is sewn and printed in Fairfax County, Va., by MetaWear, which sources only organic, fair-trade-certified cotton and has a screen printing process that uses seaweed-based dye instead of chemicals. Their factory in Virginia uses geothermal and solar energy and pays all workers a living wage.
Additional Farm Aid 2016 details for festivalgoers and fans tuning in at home:
- Farm Aid 2016 will feature performances by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds, as well as Alabama Shakes, Sturgill Simpson, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Jamey Johnson with special guest appearance by Alison Krauss, Margo Price, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Insects vs Robots, Ian Mellencamp and Star Swain.
- Farm Aid 2016 will be webcast live in HD at farmaid.org starting at 3 p.m. EDT. The webcast will feature artist performances and stories from family farmers and eaters across the country.
- Willie Nelson’s SiriusXM channel (59), Willie’s Roadhouse, will air live from Farm Aid 2016, beginning at 12 p.m. EDT. SiriusXM’s Dallas Wayne will host backstage interviews and behind-the-scenes coverage of the event.
- The Farm Aid official festival app is available for iPhone and Android devices. It allows users to view the entire Farm Aid 2016 schedule and select artists, workshops and artist briefings to make their own personal schedule for the day. Users can find out where they’re going with the festival map, check out the HOMEGROWN Concessions® food and drink offerings, read about the hands-on activities in the HOMEGROWN Village and learn about Farm Aid’s Farmer Heroes. Users also can post photos, tweet and share their Farm Aid experience with their friends through the app.
- Farm Aid’s #Road2FarmAid social media campaign is off and running on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Social media users are including the #Road2FarmAid tag on posts to connect with people who are celebrating family farm agriculture and growing the Good Food Movement.
Sponsors of Farm Aid 2016 include Bonterra Organic Vineyards, Prairie Organic, Horizon Organic, HimalaSalt, Lagunitas Brewing Co. and Applegate Farms and Organic Valley. Media partners include The Washington Post, which is hosting The FarmYard Stage, iHeartMedia and On Tap Magazine.
HOMEGROWN Catering for artists, crew and VIP guests by Taste Event Catering will include the following donors: Eco-Products, Applegate Farms, Uncle Matt’s Organic, Equal Exchange, GrandyOats, Jirani Coffehouse, Oke USA, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Theo Chocolate, Tanka Bar, Sir Kensington’s, Lundberg Family Farms, Moo-Thru, Keany Produce, Frontier Co-op, Horizon Organic, Organic Valley, Organic Prairie, Autumn Olive Farms, HimalaSalt and Willie Adams. Local students from the Culinary Arts program at Patriot High School in Prince William County will participate in Farm Aid’s Culinary Student initiative. These future culinarians will have the opportunity to learn about family farmed-sourced food first hand.
Tickets to Farm Aid 2016 are available for purchase at Livenation.com, the venue box office or by phone at 800-745-3000. Individual ticket prices range from $49.50 to $189.50. There are a limited number of 4-packs still available for $148.50.
For event updates, follow Farm Aid on Twitter (@farmaid), Facebook (www.facebook.com/farmaid), Instagram (Instagram.com/farmaid) and visit farmaid.org/concert.
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 farm food. Since 1985, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $50 million to 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.
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