Farm Aid Heads West

[TimmyB]

Farm Aid Heads West

The annual Farm Aid benefit concert will be held on the West Coast for the first time this fall. The event is set for Sept. 18 at White River Amphitheatre on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation outside Seattle, and will feature performances by Farm Aid co-founders Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, as well as Dave Matthews.

"It's a great time for Farm Aid to head to the West Coast," Nelson says. "Washington is home to more than 35,000 farm families working to provide us with safe and healthy food. We're proud to honor their contributions and recognize the Northwest region as a leader in building family farm food systems."

Tickets for the Silk Soymilk-sponsored show go on sale Saturday (Aug. 7) via Ticketmaster. Members of the FarmYard organization have pre-sale access to tickets beginning today via FarmAid.org.

Farm Aid is also planning to unveil a new nutrition guide, "10 Ways to Ensure Healthy Food for You and Your Family," via a week's worth of events at Seattle's Pike Place Market leading up to the concert.

"Seattle is a perfect example of how a city might embrace the philosophy of healthy food, from the farm to the table," says Matthews, who has a home in the Seattle area and is a member of Farm Aid's board of directors. "Like the rest of the world, Seattle faces the same big money pressure to put up with sub-standard food produced solely for profit at the expense of the environment and the quality of what we eat. The success of Seattle's consumer awareness to demand quality food from farmers who care [like small family farms] should inspire us all."

-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Looks like my Farm Aid streak is about to end. The last six Farm Aids (Tinley Park, IL., Bristow, VA.[twice], Pittsburgh, PA., Indianapolis, IN and Columbis, OH) have all been reasonable drives from Southern Ontario, but Seattle, WA is a bit of a trek.

I really hope Willie Nelson doesn't convince Bob Dylan to do the gig, because then I might have to attempt a flight out there to see the show as it would be hard to pass up my two favorite artists (Neil Young and Bob Dylan) sharing the same stage.