All-day music and food festival engages Virginia farms, businesses and organizations

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Sept. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Farm Aid 2026, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26, at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach, will showcase an all-star lineup of musical artists — all donating their performances in support of family farmers and HOMEGROWN food. Farm Aid is proud to work with regional farmers, farm organizations and businesses to bring local flavor and experiences to the event.

"Virginia is a special place to me, so I am particularly happy that we're bringing Farm Aid 2026 to the Hampton Roads area," said Farm Aid Board Member Dave Matthews. "Farmers are a foundational part of our communities, caring for the food they grow, the land and our health. It's an important time to bring attention to farmers, and the farm and food organizations that strengthen them."

Tickets for Farm Aid 2026 are available for purchase at farmaid.org/2026 and the amphitheater box office (open only on Mondays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). The Farm Aid 4 Pack — a four-pack of lawn tickets for $299 — is also available in limited quantities. For venue information, visit farmaid.org/festival/venue-information.

Information about the Farm Aid 2026 festival:

• The HOMEGROWN Village (noon to 5 p.m.) will engage festivalgoers in hands-on activities about climate, soil, water, energy, food and farming. Activities include weaving a rug with local fibers, sharing recipes from your homeplace, understanding the role of farm workers and learning about ocean farming. To mark the presence and significance of the military, service members and veterans in Hampton Roads, the HOMEGROWN Village will feature a special exhibit honoring farmer veterans.

• Festivalgoers can hear farmers and artists discuss pressing issues and share inspiring stories on the FarmYard Stage. In the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent, attendees can participate in hands-on demonstrations, including making salsa and agua fresca, making clam fritters and processing wool. At the HOMEGROWN Seed Swap, people will learn about seed-saving and pick up new varieties from fellow festivalgoers to plant at home. Additionally, attendees can participate in the painting of a mural celebrating Virginia's farmers that will be installed at the Old Beach Farmers Market in Virginia Beach. Mural artist Pamela Bliss, who is painting a large-scale mural at 604 18th Street, will lead festivalgoers in this work.

• All food served at the festival is HOMEGROWN Food® sourced from family farmers who use ecological production practices and are paid a fair price. A varied menu — all served on compostable serviceware — from diverse farmers will offer Virginia-grown peanuts; farmstead cheeses from Mountain View Farm in Fairview, Va.; Chesapeake poutine with local hand-picked warm lump blue crab; salads featuring local vegetables; and concessions classics such as a double cheeseburger with organic cheese and grass-fed beef, and a pretzel made with organic flour.

• As part of HOMEGROWN Concessions®, festivalgoers can enjoy Well Sown Estate Lager, grown and brewed for the festival by Wheatland Spring Farm + Brewery. The beer features regeneratively grown grains. The farmers will be present to show festivalgoers the agricultural origins of beer.

• Farm Aid's Green Team will help festivalgoers sort their compost and recyclables. Festivalgoers can visit the Compost Corner to learn about composting and building soil health. Tidewater Compost will collect the compostables from Farm Aid 2026 and deliver them to Drishti Compost, which creates compost to sustain future crops in Virginia.

• Young people from FFA, 4-H and Petersburg Is Growing will staff the HOMEGROWN Youthmarket. Festivalgoers can meet these young adults, learn about the work they do in their communities and taste fresh fruits, vegetables and baked goods from local farms.

• HOMEGROWN Catering (which serves artists, crew, volunteers and staff) received in-kind donations from Back Pocket Provisions, Eco-Products, Equal Exchange, Frites Street, Frontier Co-op, Horizon Organic, Hubs Peanuts, Kinloch Farm, McKaskle Family Farm, Nixie, Open Water, Tractor Beverage Co., Parkhurst Dining, Patchwork Family Farms, Seven Sundays and StageWater.

• Farm Aid is partnering with Support+Feed to conduct a food drive benefiting the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore. Festivalgoers are asked to bring non-perishable plant-based food items including canned vegetables and fruits, oats, dry pasta, rice, canned and dry beans, and nut butters to support food access in Hampton Roads.

• The venue will feature fall crops, including hay bales, pumpkins, corn stalks, mums and sunflowers, from Hickory Ridge Farm, Deer Run Farm, Motherhood in Blooms, End of Nowhere Flower Farm, Hidden Gems Farm and The Flower Farm at Young's Mill.

• Farm Aid 2026 merchandise will feature shirts and hoodies grown with organic cotton from Texas farmers, produced and printed in the U.S., along with hats, bandanas, tote bags and festival posters. Texas organic cotton farmers will show festivalgoers the process of turning raw cotton into clothing, and the importance of organic and domestic textile supply chains.

• Photographs of Virginia farmers and farms will be incorporated into the stage design, enabling farmers to figuratively share the stage with artists throughout the event.

Farm Aid 2026 will feature performances by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson (& Family), Neil Young (& The Chrome Hearts), John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), Margo Price, and Nathaniel Rateliff, as well as Turnpike Troubadours, Lukas Nelson, Ty Myers, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, Jesse Welles, Sierra Ferrell, Mon Rovîa, I'm With Her, Amythyst Kiah, Lily Meola, Chris Pierce, and the Wisdom Indian Dancers.

Festivalgoers can access the entire Farm Aid experience through the official Farm Aid 2026 mobile app, available now for iPhone and Android devices. Fans will be able to use the app to get details about the HOMEGROWN Concessions® menu, learn the stories of local farmers and make a personalized schedule of music, workshops and artist briefings for the day. Download the app at farmaid.org/app.

The Farm Aid Hi-Fi Experience offers guests access to the best seats and the Hi-Fi Experience Lounge. A limited number of Farm Aid 2026 Hi-Fi Experience tickets are still available at farmaid.org/hifitix.

The Farm Aid 2026 Memorabilia Auction goes live on the day of the festival at farmaid.org/auction. This collection of rare, unique and signed memorabilia items will be open for bidding on the Farm Aid website through Friday, October 9 at 5 p.m. ET. Proceeds support Farm Aid's work.

On Friday, Sept. 25, festivalgoers and residents throughout Hampton Roads are invited to join Farm Aid for the Farm Aid Family Reunion: "We the Farmers" Takeover at the 52nd Annual Neptune Festival Boardwalk Weekend. The celebration begins at 6 p.m. ET at Neptune's Park on the Virginia Beach Oceanfront and will feature Rissi Palmer's Revue featuring Rebecca Porter, Roberta Lea and The Smoke; shirlette ammons; Kyshona; Chris Pierce; and the Red Crook-ed Sky American Indian Dance Troupe, hosted by "The Professor" Nick Harrison. The "We the Farmers" Takeover will honor the rich musical traditions of Black, Indigenous and artists of color while bringing the community together in celebration of rural communities, family farmers and eaters from all corners of our landscape. Admission is free and open to the public, with food and beverages available for purchase throughout the Neptune Festival grounds.

Sponsors of Farm Aid 2026 include Virginia is for Farm Lovers, Visit Virginia Beach, Virginia Department of Agriculture, Tractor Beverage Co., Horizon Organic, Virginia Spirits and Intertribal Agriculture Council. This year's festival and pre-festival events received support from "Our Shared Future: 250," a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation's 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years.

For festival updates, follow Farm Aid on Facebook (facebook.com/farmaid), Instagram (instagram.com/farmaid), X (@FarmAid), Bluesky (@farmaid.org) and Threads (threads.com/@farmaid). More details are also available at farmaid.org/festival. Festivalgoers are encouraged to use the hashtags #FarmAid2026 and #Road2FarmAid to join the conversation on social media.

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, Dave Matthews, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff host an annual festival 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 $90 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.

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SOURCE Farm Aid