This weekend on a shoestring

Thursday, July 14

• Start the weekend with a hefty dose of indie rock as Craggie Brewing Company (197 Hilliard Ave., 254-0360) hosts “Craggiepalooza,” featuring performances by Doc Aquatic, Big Hungry, The Poison Control Center and Ryan Anderson. 7-11 p.m. Free.

Friday, July 15

• Take advantage of unseasonably cool temperatures with an easy, three-mile hike through a balsam fir forest. The ranger-led excursion departs from the Rough Butt Bald Overlook, MP 425 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Bring water and be prepared for inclement weather. 10 a.m. Free.

• Downtown After Five continues its summer run with the raucous blues of Woody Wood and the tropical jazz fusion of steel pan virtuoso Jonathan Scales. 5 p.m. Free.

• Atlanta’s Little Tybee brings its complex melodicism and rhythmic meanderings back to Asheville for a performance at The LAB (39 North Lexington Ave., 252-0212) with River Whyless (formerly known as Do it to Julia). 10 p.m. $7. 

• “Two words were once married to give an identity and conceptual continuity to a musical enterprise that would refuse to limit itself,” reads the bio of experimental post-rock duo Ahleuchatists. “Ah-leu-cha & Zapatistas. The first is the title of  a Charlie Parker song, the second that of a revolutionary movement which began in Chiapas, Mexico in 1994. Musical revolution and social revolution combined into a single coinage. Movement and the constant outstripping of itself are what unifies all the sounds under this single name.” Catch the band’s avant-garde/jazz/math/noise/craziness at The Get Down (1045 Haywood Road, 505-8388) with Slaw, IO and The Dispersants. 9 p.m.

Saturday, July 16

• This year, the Laugh Your Asheville Off comedy festival offers more than standup. Saturday morning, appease your inner funny and your inner yogi with “Laughing Yoga” at Pack Square Park in downtown Asheville. Reads a page for the event, “Laughter Yoga was founded in 1995 by Dr. Madan Kataria, an Indian medical doctor from Mumbai, India, who started with five people laughing together in a park and now it’s grown to over 6,000 Laughter clubs in 60 countries. He wanted to bring to the world the gift of laughter for promoting health and human connections. You may already know some of the many health benefits, mostly because it’s great for oxygenating our blood, brain, heart and other organs: laughter boosts the immune system, lowers stress, increases endorphins, fights aging, increases circulation and concentration and so on. Laughter Yoga does not rely on humor or jokes.” 11 a.m. Free.

• Embrace your inner child at the 3rd annual 23 Ring Circus, hosted by Asheville’s favorite “kid-hop” mastermind Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. The afternoon will also include kid cabaret by Hellblinki, bellydancing by Claire Dima, vaudeville by The Runaway Circus and juggling with 40 Fingers and a Missing Tooth. 1 p.m. $9/kids under 3 free.

• “For 13 years storytellers and listeners have been congregating in the Riverside Park in downtown Spruce Pine, N.C.,” begins a release for the Toe River Storytelling Festival. “On the banks of the beautiful Toe River, across from the railroad lines that make their way through downtown Spruce Pine, visitors and tellers will enjoy the warm Southern mountain July air. The tellers for the Toe River Storytelling Festival will incorporate mountain lore in their stories, enriching listeners’ understanding of the unique history of this region.” This year, performers include Ellouise Schoettler, Donna Washington, Sherry Lovette, Mitch Capel and Lloyd Arneach. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

• Blue Ridge Books (152 S. Main St., in Waynesville) explores traditional cuisine with Johnnie Sue Myers, author of The Gathering Place: Traditional Cherokee Dishes, Wild Game Recipes & Preparation Tips and Southern Appalachian Cooking. “Cherokee cooking is an often overlooked local cuisine that few people get an opportunity to taste or learn about,” reads the shop’s website. “Many of the old recipes and traditional ways of preparing the various wild foods have been slowly dying. Johnnie Sue Myers is a Cherokee Elder who has a passion for preserving and protecting her Native American culinary heritage.” 3 p.m. Free.

• According to an event page for his local appearance, “Charles Thompson’s book, The Spirits of Just Men: Mountaineers, Liquor Bosses, and Lawmen in the Moonshine Capital of the World, shines a light on Franklin County, Virginia and some of its illustrious history.” Hear the author speak at Malaprop’s (55 Haywood St., 254-6734). 7 p.m. Free.