Exhibit in Action: Special Events for Farm Aid

• Post Date: 10/24/2025
• Author: Beth Watkins, Manager of Exhibit Interpretation and Visitor Experience
• Reading Time: 2 minute read

• News tag
• Exhibits tag
• Events tag

This fall's exhibit, Songs of Solidarity: The 1985 Farm Aid Concert, tells the story of this important event in agriculture, music, and activism, a concert that featured performers such as Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, and attracted 80,000 visitors to Champaign’s Memorial Stadium. 

We’ve partnered with the Champaign County History Museum – the stewards of the related collections and oral histories – to offer visitors a chance to see photographs, documents, and artifacts related to that massive concert in 1985. But as difficulties still face American family farms, we’re telling the ongoing story of the Farm Aid organization and the concerts that still take place, right up to the 40th anniversary concert held this September.

Songs of Solidarity has already inspired a range of special events and programs: we hosted a Monday night Hootenanny at the Rose Bowl in Urbana and filled it with songs from the 1985 concert performed by current local artists. Next was a talk by Professor Kristin Hoganson (History) about the history of Champaign County’s role as an integral part of the global agricultural economy. (If you missed her talk, check out her fascinating book on the same topic. The Heartland: An American History is available in multiple formats at the Champaign Public Library and Urbana Free Library.) 

Upcoming Farm Aid events include a discussion of the novel A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley at The Literary in Champaign on November 1, as well as guided exhibit tours on November 2 and December 7 with curator Professor Dan Gilbert (History, Labor and Employment Relations). Dan will also be giving a talk, "Destination Champaign—The Roots and Routes of Farm Aid," on November 6 at 4:30. See our events page for details. 

Special thanks to our campus partners at the Music and Performing Arts Library and the Funk ACES Library for putting up special Farm Aid exhibits through October – and look for more library partnerships in our spring exhibit.

Songs of Solidarity: The 1985 Farm Aid Concert is on view through January 11.