The Weekendist: October 14-16 Edition

TGIF, Nashville. It’s a busy weekend in Nashville, loaded with outdoor festivals, free conferences and more. Fall is in full swing! Here are our top picks for this weekend:

Full Moon Pickin’ Party. Friday, October 14 at the Equestrian Barn on Old Hickory Boulevard, 7-11pm, $15 advance/$20 door. The last Full Moon Pickin’ Party is tonight, and your ticket gets you a night under the stars listening to live bluegrass, plus four beers and unlimited soft drinks. More here.

Southern Festival of Books. Friday-Sunday, October 14-16 at Legislative Plaza and the Tennessee Capitol Building, free. Panels, readings and discussions from dozens of authors. For free.

Music & Molasses Arts & Crafts Festival. Saturday-Sunday, October 15-16 at the Tennessee Agricultural Museum, 9-4pm Saturday, 10-4pm Sunday, $5. Here is a list of delightful things about the Music & Molasses Arts & Crafts Festival: Molasses making demonstrations, clogging, homemade pie, taffy pulls. And more!

BarCamp Nashville. Saturday, October 15 at Cadillac Ranch. 9-5pm, free. Want to learn more about social media, coding, project management and all other things tech? Want to do it for free? Yeah, we do too.

Music City Chili Cookoff. Saturday, October 15 at the Event Pavilion in Centennial Park, 11am-4pm, $5 admission, $15 beer garden. Fall means one thing to many people. Chili weather! $5 admission gets you chili tastings, live music, bouncy inflatable things for the kiddos and more. Another $15 will get you six 8oz glasses of beer from Yazoo and two shots of apple pie moonshine, which is quite frankly a lot of booze for $15.

Halloween in the Gulch 10k/5k & Block Party. Saturday, October 15 in the Gulch, 5-9pm, $40 to run/free to party. We’re big fans of the Halloween in the Gulch 5/10k because it’s at night, thus sparing us from waking up early to run. Who are we kidding? We’re not running this thing. The post-party is a huge block party, and it’s a blast. Runners and spectators in costume, creepy cocktails and more.

Egypt Family Day at the Frist. Sunday, October 16 at the Frist Center, 1-5:30pm, free. The Frist’s newest exhibit is all about Egyptian Treasures, and in keeping with the theme they’re offering a free Egypt Family Day this Sunday. Arts & crafts for the kids (or for the adults – we won’t judge you) and free admission for all, free days at the Frist are some of our favorite days.

Yazoo’s First Annual Big Wheel Championships. Sunday, October 16 downtown at Church St between 1st & 2nd Aves, 12pm, $40 to race/free to watch. Participant tickets are sold out for this one, but that’s okay. We’d rather watch the hilarity (and spend our $40 on beer). Head downtown to watch grown adults peddle Big Wheels around downtown – the fun starts at noon, and races start at 2pm sharp!

Photo by MFitzPhoto.