Darrell Boege Interview
Interview with Darrell Boege
April 1, 2023 Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL
Interviewer: Summer Matthes SM = Summer Matthes DB: Darrell Boegue
SM: Alright, so today is April first, 5:20 [p.m.]. We’re recording at the History Harvest. I’m Summer Matthes and I’m here with:
DB: Darrel Boege.
SM: Alright, Darrel, so why don’t you tell me about, uh, your association with Farm Aid, how that came about, how’d you get here, anything you know about it?
DB: Okay, going back to the beginning. I have two stories.
SM: Yeah?
DB: Uh, going back to the beginning. Uh, on about a Friday night, on channel WCIA, there was an announcement made that there will be an announcement the following day. So my father-in-law was in town from Iowa, so the two of us on the next morning, which I think was Saturday morning. We came down here to the south entrance to the Memorial Stadium, walked across a football field. At the very north end, a podium was set up and there were about two reporters there and no one else. No public, no one, except a couple of reporters. We walked up and we got word that Willie Nelson was there with his RV parked just north of the stadium. The name of the RV was something like Wild Irish Rose or maybe you know what the name of his RV is. And then we waited, milled around a little while and in came a helicopter. And in the helicopter was Governor Jim Thompson. He flew in by helicopter. He immediately walked over and walked into Willie’s van or his motorhome. And I thought, That was kind of suspicious, so who’d want to go into Willie’s motorhome? (laughs). But the governor went in there and they were there for quite some time. And then they came out: the governor, John Mellencamp, and Willie. They came out. They walked to the podium and they made the announcement that there would be Farm Aid. So my father-in-law and I were there. No one from the public and a couple of reporters and the three celebrities and that was it. That was the beginning of the announcement of Farm Aid. My second story—I was a plant manager for DeKalb, the seed corn people in Tuscola. I managed a plant in Tuscola. After Farm Aid had been announced, there were people from–journalists from all over that wanted to get in on the story. So we had at our plant, on a morning that we were harvesting corn, farmers were bringing corn in, seed corn in, and unloading it. And we had representatives there from The Wall Street Journal and from The New York Times. They don’t want to talk to me, but they wanted to talk to farmers. So they were able to interview one farmer that I know they talked to was Larry Eisenmenger. Um, and they—I think he ended up on the front page of The New York Times at that time. Uh, just—they just—they wanted to interview farming: “What do you think about the current farm situation, and the crop values, and your income?” And all that sort of thing.
SM: Wow. Okay so—so you worked at that place [the DeKalb plant]? DB: I managed that plant. SM: You managed it?
DB: Yes. SM: So you would see farmers coming in every day?
DB: Every day. Every hour. All day long. SM: Wow ok. Did you—do you remember anything at that—was it a press conference, then you think was with the Governor?
DB: Oh, yes. That was a press conference.
SM: A press conference, so the public just wasn’t there?
DB: No, no one came except two curious people. (laughs)
SM: (Laughs) Yeah, that’s crazy.
DB: So we were—we were really thrilled about that. To be able to be there when it actually was first announce and there was no one else there, so it was unique. Willie was down tying his shoe and I put my hand on his shoulder and I said, “Willie, thank you for what you’re doing. We appreciate it and I’m sure the farmers really appreciate it.” And he just kinda looked up at me and nodded. (laughs). He didn’t really say anything. So that was fun—that was a fun opportunity. A great, unique opportunity.
SM: Yeah, how old were you?
DB: Well, how long ago was Farm Aid?
SM: In 1985.
DB: So it was uh, how many forty?
SM: Yeah, forty some years.
DB: Less than forty years.
SM: Less than forty, yeah, because the anniversary is coming up, yeah.
DB: So at that time, I probably would’ve been about forty years old.
SM: Okay, okay. So then you, yourself, didn’t go to the concert?
DB: No, I didn’t. I watched it on television.
SM: You watched it on television? Okay.
DB: It was rainy and cold and nasty.
SM: Yeah.
DB: And there was good coverage—good television coverage, so I stayed home and watched it. I have no experiences of Farm Aid itself other than what we [him and his father-in-law] viewed on the television.
SM: Alright. So did you have any artists that you were looking forward to seeing? Or anything or anybody that caught your eye?
DB: Oh well, everyone, everyone. The show was great to see.
SM: Yeah.
DB: It was a terrific show.
SM: Do you remember anything else that you would like to add? Anything even minor that you may think of? Small details you may remember?
DB: Probably not. We had a lot of friends that came to the show.
SM: Okay.
DB: And they stuck with it even though the weather was bad. Apparently, had big plastic sheets that they could cover all their friends with so that they could get out of the weather.
SM: Alright well, thank you so much for sharing your story.
DB: Yeah, my pleasure. End of interview.
This set of recordings is of a range of participants in the Farm Aid concert of 1985, and is to be used only for historical research and educational purposes. Interviews were conducted with the express written consent of all participants. This collection was compiled by the Champaign County History Museum and the Spring 2023 History Harvest class at the University of Illinois. These recordings are presented with transcripts of their contents.