Free things to do in Nashville: Kurdish festival, live music (and Fourth of July celebrations, too)

With unique festivals, free concerts and miles of yard sales, it is bound to be a good weekend. And plenty of free Fourth of July fun is coming up in the week ahead.

Fisk music fest

Fisk University's fourth annual WFSK Jazzy 88.1 Food and Music Festival is 2-9 p.m. Saturday with live music by Donald Hayes, Ben Tankard, Blair Whitlow, Ryan Montano and Thomas Cain. The event at 1000 17th Ave. N. features local vendors and food trucks. Bring your own lawn chair. 

Details: skay@fisk.edu or 615-329-8754

Kurdish festival 

There is a festival from 9:30-11 a.m. Saturday celebrating the new "Little Kurdistan" community mural and the Elysian Fields Road walking path near the Salahadeen Center and Mazi Market at 364 Elysian Fields Court. The Kurdish-themed mural, by Tony Sobota and Nabeel Alyousef, is enormous — measuring 13 feet high by 110 feet wide. This would be a great opportunity to meet and learn about your Kurdish neighbors. Nashville has more Kurdish residents than any other city in the U.S., with a population of about 15,000. In addition to the art, the festival will offer food and activities. 

Details: scntn.org

Big band dance

These family-friendly dances take place 7:30-10 p.m. Saturdays in the event shelter at the back of Centennial Park, with dance lessons at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. This week's band is Radio Daze.You can take your own a picnic or snacks, and there are usually food trucks.

Details: nashville.gov/parks or 615-862-8440

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Lipscomb block party

Lipscomb University is hosting a free "Bison Block Party" for the community Friday, starting at 5:30 p.m., with inflatable games for kids, a concert featuring Lipscomb University commercial music alumni Daves Highway, Grant Parker, Arcadian Wild and the Lipscomb Faculty Brass Quintet, and a fireworks display at 9 p.m. The event on the Allen Arena Mall will be hosted by longtime Channel 4 sports anchor Rudy Kalis. Lipscomb is an alcohol-free, tobacco-free campus.

Details: lipscomb.edu/news

Musicians Corner

This is the final weekend of the Musicians Corner summer season. These free, family-friendly, multi-genre concerts take place at Centennial Park and include food trucks, the Musicians Corner Pub, local artisan vendors and Kidsville activities. The events are 5-9 p.m. Fridays and from noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays. This week's lineup includes BedBedouine, Jamie Drake, Robby Hecht, Ethansroom and Gustavo Guerrero on Friday; and a Single Lock Records Showcase on Saturday with John Paul White, Caleb Elliott, The Prescriptions, Exotic Dangers and Duquette Johnston. 

Details: musicianscornernashville.com

String City

The popular "String City: Nashville's Tradition of Music and Puppetry," the original puppet show chronicling the history of country music, is back for a series of free summer performances in the Ford Theater of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Dates are July 1-13 (no show on July 7) at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. There is also a free 7 p.m. July 5 performance for 21 years old and older.

This 75-minute production is for music lovers of all ages and uses marionettes, rod puppetry, shadow/animation puppetry and an ever-changing set to tell country music history as it relates to Nashville's transformation into Music City. The program is co-presented by the Nashville Public Library's Wishing Chair Productions and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Details: countrymusichalloffame.org

Free family day at the Frist 

The Frist Art Museum has a free family day from 1-5:30 p.m. Sunday, where all ages can enjoy the galleries and celebrate Mexican art and culture with special art-making activities, performances and gallery experiences for all ages. Performances include La Mision ConArte, Rachel Rodriguez and Danza Azteca Ollin Quetzalli (Aztec Dance Movement of Precious Feathers). The Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism exhibit from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection will be up through Sept. 2.

Details: fristartmuseum.org or 615-244-3340

Free community concerts

The Williamson County Community Band will play a free "One Nation Under God" concert at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Harpeth Hills Church of Christ at 1949 Old Hickory Blvd. in Brentwood. There will be free ice cream and a fireworks show.

The Nashville Community Band will play a free 6 p.m. Sunday concert in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church, 7310 Overby Road, in Fairview.

Music City Fourth of July

The free Independence Day excitement on Lower Broadway starts on Wednesday, July 3, with a family fun zone and DJ from noon-5 p.m. at Music City Walk of Fame Park. The Wednesday festivities are themed “Start With a Kick and End With a Bang” in conjunction with the Gold Cup semifinal soccer match that night at Nissan Stadium. The July 3 music starts at 4 p.m. at Ascend Amphitheatre, with headliner Alejandro Aranda (of "American Idol" fame) performing as Scarypoolparty, as well as The Whigs, and Bizz & Everyday People.

"Let Freedom Sing!" — the big Fourth of July event — starts Thursday, July 4, at noon, with a family zone with inflatables, slip-n-slide, face painters, balloon artists and more at Music City Walk of Fame Park. The main concert stage at Fifth Avenue and Broadway starts the day at noon with a DJ and live music, including Jackson Bruck & The Dukes of Hume, Creature Comfort, the Joe West Band and Dylan Scott. 

The evening program on the Broadway stage starts with Nashville soul singer Jason Eskridge singing the national anthem at 5:45 p.m., followed by performances by 10-time CMA Musician of the Year Mac Mac McAnally, Grammy-nominated neo-soul/rock artist Jessy Wilson and headliner Brett Eldredge. The event shifts to Ascend Amphitheater about 9:10 p.m. with patriotic recitations from Barry Scott, followed by a 30-minute fireworks show synchronized to a live performance by the Nashville Symphony. All free.

Details: visitmusiccity.com/july4th

Hot Chicken Festival

The 13th annual Hot Chicken Festival is July 4 at East Park, 700 Woodland St. The rain-or-shine event starts with a parade of fire trucks at 10:30 a.m. You can try free hot chicken samples from numerous local establishments. Plus, there will be live music and kids activities.

Details: hot-chicken.com

Trash & Treasure in Cross Plains

This Friday and Saturday, the 33rd annual Trash & Treasures sale takes place in Cross Plains. This community-wide sale along the main drag of Highway 25 in this small, rural Robertson County community is always one of my favorite summer outings.

If you go on Friday morning, it's fun to watch WSM radio's Bill Cody and Charlie Mattos broadcast their "Coffee, Country & Cody" show live from the front porch of the landmark Thomas Drug Store — with guests including Too Slim of Riders in the Sky fame. I will also be there, talking "cheap." Plus there will be free food, including Williams Country sausage and biscuits. 

Details: visitcrossplains.com/trash-and-treasures

Highway 41 sales 

If you like highways full of treasure hunting (along with a bit of sightseeing), the Highway 41 sale that stretches 150 miles through western Kentucky is Friday and Saturday. It runs through Henderson, Webster, Hopkins, Christian and Todd counties.

Details: See Highway 41 Yard Sale on Facebook

Reach Ms. Cheap at 615-259-8282 or mscheap@tennessean.com. Follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/mscheap, and at Tennessean.com/mscheap, and on Twitter @Ms_Cheap, and catch her every Thursday at 11 a.m. on WTVF-Channel 5’s “Talk of the Town.”