This weekend on a shoestring

Thursday, April 25

• The Salt Spa of Asheville, 473 Hendersonville Road, invites the public to enjoy a free evening of “full moon meditation” in its Himalayan salt therapy room. Reservation required; donations welcome. 4-5 p.m. Info: 505-1838.

• Think long and hard before answering this question: Are you smarter than an elementary student? Find out once and for all at a benefit for Children First/Communities in Schools, featuring teams of three answering questions on geography, math, history and other elementary subjects. Held in A-B Tech’s Ferguson Auditorium. 6-8 p.m. $5 for spectators. Info: 259-9717.

• From the Asheville Butoh website, “Originating in post-WWII Japan, Butoh dance is a postmodern movement in which formal dance technique is eschewed in favor of primal and idiosyncratic styles that transform the human body and allow raw mental energies to come into being. Butoh is one of the major developments in contemporary dance in the later half of the 20th century. … Butoh is an attempt to create new forms of movement and expression. Butoh uses the body brazenly, in its most corporal state, as a battleground to attain personal, social or political transformation. It searches for the dance that pushes buttons, steps on toes and slips between the cracks of definition in order to reveal the fervent beauty of the unique human spirit.” Get a taste for the sometimes unsettling art at the Asheville Butoh Festival, featuring international, national and local Butoh artists performing at a variety of locations throughout the weekend, including several free outdoor performances. See website for complete schedule.

Friday, April 26

• Downtown Books and News will host an opening reception for an exhibition of works by local painter Jonas Gerard, featuring lute music by Will Tocaben. 67 N. Lexington Ave. 7-9 p.m. Free.

• Warren Wilson College graduating theater students Samantha Stewart and Michael Willey will perform their original works, Theatre Is Burning and Welcome to the Zoo, at the college’s Kittridge Theatre. 8 p.m. $10/students free. Info and reservations: 771-3040.

• From a Clubland feature in this week’s print edition, “Zomes began as the solo project of Lungfish guitarist Asa Osborne, a lo-fi exploration of repetitive melodies and meditative atmospheres set to drum machine loops. Osborne’s forthcoming album expands the Zomes lineup (with the addition of Sweedish vocalist Hanna) but maintains the project’s contradictory sense of darkness and optimism.” Zomes plays Apothecary, 39 S. Market St., with Mendocino and Gardener. 9 p.m.

Saturday, April 27

• The All Go West festival, to be held in and around Isis Restaurant and Music Hall, will feature more than 15 local and national bands, skateboarding demonstrations and a ticketed culinary event. Performers include Quantic, RBTS Win, Ahleuchatistas, The Critters (pictured), Zombie Queen and Kovacs and the Polar Bear. Noon-2 a.m. Free; $40 for culinary tasting.

Photo by Max Cooper

• The Lake Lure Spring Fling boasts food, fun, friendly competition for kids of all ages, art and craft vendors and a 5K toga run at Morse Park Meadows in Lake Lure. Free to attend. Info: 625-9292.

• From the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project‘s website, “Mark your calendars now for our very first Local Food Fest: April 27, from 2-6 p.m. on Wall Street in downtown Asheville! We’re closing down the street to celebrate the release of the 2013 Local Food Guide (it’ll be hot off the press) and the start of the region’s harvest season. The event is free and open to the public. What can you expect: Live music from the Galen Kipar Project (2:30-4:30 p.m.); A kid’s strawberry salsa cooking demo and activity area through our Growing Minds Farm to School Program, including face painting and story time once an hour with Malaprop’s, Spellbound and Buncombe County Library; A farmers market featuring farmers who sell to the Wall Street restaurants (many of their farm-fresh items will be cooked up that very day and night) including Sunburst Trout Farms, Rise Up Rooted Farm, Looking Glass Creamery, Farm and Sparrow, Imladris Farm and Hickory Nut Gap Farm; Raffles for awesome local food prizes; Steven Tengelsen will demonstrate the making of end grain counter top chopping blocks; and more!”

• The Meltdown Vintage Motorcycle Show will feature more than 200 motorcycles, local food and beer, vendors and music by The Krektones and Pleasure Chest. Held at Southern Appalachian Brewery, 822 Locust St., Hendersonville. 1-7 p.m. Free.