The Heights Music Festival (formerly Clifton Heights Music Festival, launched in 2009) kicks off tonight with more than 70 bands (and some comedy sets) at five venues within walking distance around Clifton Heights. Rohs Street Café, Baba Budan’s, Mac’s, Christy’s and Roxx Electrocafe all host performances beginning at 7 p.m. tonight and starting at 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon through the night. Tickets are $8 for just tonight, $5 for tomorrow’s daytime shows or $12 for the whole weekend. Go here for lineup details and more information.

Though iconic Cincinnati-based artist Charley Harper passed away almost five years ago, his artwork is as recognizable now than ever. His modernist depictions of nature and wildlife still cover the walls of fans young and old. Mary Ran Gallery is currently holding an exhibit and sale of Harper’s vintage signed and numbered prints. Stop by the Hyde Park gallery, peep some of his colorful works and walk away with one of your own. Find details here.

TEDxCincinnatiChange is the first of many TED events to hit the Tri-state this spring. Saturday’s theme is "Big Picture, Small Details," set to examine issues with global and local impact and zeroing in on small details to make big ideas work. This a satellite event of a national TEDxChange, which marks a partnership between TED (Technology, Entertainments and Design) and the Melinda Gates Foundation. The Cincinnati event will kick off with a live streaming of a TEDxChange talk from Berlin. Speakers and performers include filmmakers Andrea Sisson and Peter Ohs, True Body Project founder Stacy Sims, taste of Beligum's Jean-Francois Flechet and many more. The event is currently sold out, but go here to find other upcoming TED events.

Rumspringa is a rite of passage when Amish adolescents can leave their community and enjoy a relaxed atmosphere prior to deciding to be baptized or to leave the Amish church. In popular culture, those participating in Rumspringa are often portrayed as hardcore partiers, swapping their values and traditional garb for booze and sex (but in actuality, it’s not so drastic – most choose to continue being Amish). Saturday, Mayday presents its annual Rumspringa Beer and Sausage Fest. Rock out like it’s your only chance to do so and enjoy Amish-inspired delights like beerwurst, bangers, homemade mustards and more beer than you can shake a buckled shoe at. Remember to call a designated carriage driver! The fun starts at 4 p.m.

OTR A.D.O.P.T. is an organization that helps match prospective home/business owners renovate deteriorating historic buildings in Over-the-Rhine. Saturday, Neon’s Unplugged hosts a benefit for the organization, inviting you to Partly Like it’s 1869! Learn about the organization and how to get involved while celebrating the eclectic neighborhood. Costumes are encourage, so sport your favorite hoop skirt or suspenders and capture your look in a photo booth. A $5 donation gets you in; enjoy old timey drink specials from 8 p.m.-1 a.m.

Check our full To Do page for more arts and events, follow our music blog for this weekend's shows and find theater recommendations here. And Happy Zombie Jesus Day!

Pork-themed festivals are plentiful in Cincinnati, but this weekend marks the first ever Queen City Sausage Festival. Friday-Sunday, head down to Newport on the Levee to fill your belly with brats, metts, coneys and more creative sausagey combinations. To ensure a great time for all, Hudepohl and Christian Moerlein will be serving up brewskies and there will be live music, games and kids activities. Go here for festival hours and more info.

Looking for a fest with a little more history behind it? Schutzenfest is "Zinzinnati's" oldest festival, celebrating all things German since 1866. Enjoy different types of authentic German music and performances at the Kolping Center Friday-Sunday. Don't miss the opening parade and the crowning of King and Queen Sunday afternoon. For directions and a full event schedule, go here.

This weekend's Cincinnati Boutique Sale brings every fashion-savvy gal's favorite independent shops together under one roof - the space formerly occupied by Anthropologie at Rookwood Commons, to be exact. For a suggested donation of $5 (benefiting the Karen Wellington Foundation for living with breast cancer), you can browse clothing, shoes and accessories from top local boutiques such as Soho, The Wardrobe, Sara Benjamin's and more. Go here for all the details.

Laughter is good for you. The act of laughing can lower blood pressure, make your body more resilient and even work muscles in your face and abs. So say goodbye to that double-chin and beer belly with the help of comedian Steve White, who performs at Funny Bone on the Levee through Sunday. You may recognize White from several Spike Lee films, '90s television gold (Martin, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, need I go on?) or comedy clubs across America. Check out our interview with him here.

How about a little roadtrip? The Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus is an engaging space that celebrates visual art, music, performance art, film and everything in between. Open Saturday and Sunday during the summer, the space's galleries are currently showing three sexually-charged multimedia exhibits. Read all about them here and make the trip soon - these exhibits end July 31. In addition, Wexner's Contemporary Screen series continues Friday and Saturday night. This series promises area and regional premieres, international film festival favorites and all kinds of flicks you certainly won't find at Showcase Cinemas. This weekend you can check out The Arbor, based on the life and autobiographical writings of the late British playwright Andrea Dunbar. Be sure to check out the Wexner Center Store because, well, museum gift shops are always sweet as hell. Go here for directions, hours and ticket info.

At Sunday's OTR Pool Party, you can enjoy all the fun of dumpster diving minus the empty pizza boxes and risk of hepatitis. Back in 2009, hipsters in Brooklyn gained attention by turning unused trash receptacles into little watering holes and it wasn't that gross because the dumpsters were cleaned, sealed and covered with pool liners. And although Cincinnati's always behind the times, we're finally catching on to the trend. With a $50 donation to Chris Seelbach's City Council campaign, you can get your swim on, enjoy free grilled grub and an open bar, get framed by the fabulous photoboothers at Framester and dance to tunes spun by the almost-too-sexy Diamonn Gurr. It's sure to be one of the biggest parties of the summer, so go here for all the deets and here to register and donate early so you can skip the line Sunday.

This is just a taste of all there is to do! Go here for all of our weekly recommendations.

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If your New Year’s resolution is to go out more and explore the city in 2013, get started this weekend by checking out some of these events.

Thunder-Sky Inc. hosts an opening reception for New Magic and Costume Shoppe Friday 6-10 p.m. The Northside gallery, which highlights “outsider art” and supports creatives with disabilities, will display paintings by Yohana Junker, masks by David Earl Johnson and some beloved clown costumes by Raymond Thunder-Sky himself.

Tri-State brides-to-be (and psycho girlfriends eager to jump the gun) will flock to Duke Energy convention center this weekend for Wendy’s Bridal Show. More than 150 event planners, gown retailers, caterers and other wedding experts will be on hand to help create your big day from the invitations to the perfect reception music. Each day features fashion shows with dresses from Wendy’s Cincinnati Bride. The expo runs 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Get $2 off admission here.

Argentinean pianist Ingrid Fliter joins the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for some high-energy performances Friday and Saturday. Fliter will perform Ravel’s G Major Piano Concerto. Additionally, the CSO will present Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances. Go here for tickets and more information.

Ohio native and fashion photographer Rob Deaton has teamed up with Laura Kirkpatrick (America’s Next Top Model runner-up, ANTM All-Stars contestant and Kentucky native) to present Fashion Angels, a charity event benefiting the Freestore Foodbank, American Cancer Society and Dyslexia foundation Beautiful Minds. Taking place at Loveland’s Receptions Banquet Center, Fashion Angels runs Friday-Sunday featuring runway shows by more than a dozen designers. VIP ticket holders will enjoy cocktail parties and a meet-and-greet with Deaton and Kirkpatrick.

If bar hopping is on your schedule this weekend, be sure to read this week’s Drink column for tips on how to step up your cocktail game this year.

For more art openings, theater shows, concerts and other events, check out our full calendar.

We're just two months away from the highly anticipated MidPoint Music Festival and the free MidPoint Indie Summer Series is still rockin' on. Stop by Fountain Square Friday for a taste of quality music you can expect at the September fest. This week's line up features a superb spread of local talent. Alternative Folk crew The Western kicks off the show at 7 p.m., followed by Garage Rockers The Prohibitionists at 8:15 p.m. July for Kings headlines the show at 9:30 p.m., bringing their quirky Rock & Roll sound. Check out a past interview with her crew here. For tickets, lineups and all the latest updates on MPMF, follow them on Facebook.

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As always, there will be dinner-by-the-bite from your favorite restaurants like Adriatico's, Izzy's and A Tavola; coffee and dessert from Coffee Emporium and BonBonerie; and the city's best cocktails including martinis, Bloody Marys and margaritas. As you're eating your way through the beautiful Memorial Hall, enjoy music from a DJ and a live performance from Exhale Dance Tribe performers.

Other events tonight include a Make and Bake glass jewelry class at Brazee Studios from 5-7 p.m., a Homegrown Tomatoes workshop at the Civic Garden Center from 6-8 p.m. and free concert at CCM featuring the U.S. Navy Band from Washington, D.C. at 8 p.m.

Covington's Carnegie Center presents its sixth annual Art of Food show, opening tonight. As you might've guessed, this art exhibit is centered around all things edible. The reception features beautiful culinary creations (that you can actually eat) by everyone from BonBonnerie to La Poste, Queen City Cookies to Taste of Belgium. Admission is a little steep ($60 at the door for non-members), but you'll leave with your left brain and stomach both very satisfied. Admission after the reception is free. Get details here.

The opening reception kicks off at 8 p.m. In addition to checking out the artwork, electronic musician/wizard Dan Deacon will perform 8-9 p.m. If you haven't heard of him, here's a preview:

The City Flea moves from Washington Park to Northside’s American Can Lofts Saturday with Factory Flea. Shop for all the vintage items, furniture, artwork and other goodies City Flea fans have come to expect in the ground-floor interior space of the American Can building. Food trucks and other vendors will also be on-site outside. The Factory Flea runs 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

If you’re looking for a few good books to curl up with this fall, swing by Duke Energy Convention Center Saturday for Books By The Banks. Bibliophiles of all sorts can meet more than 100 local, regional and national authors, purchase a wide variety of books, sit in on panel sessions and even check out cooking demos. There’s also a kids’ corner for young readers to enjoy storytime, performances and more. Admission is free; find details here.

With Halloween around the corner and The Walking Dead having just premiered, it’s the perfect time for Saturday’s Cincinnati Zombie Walk. Hoards of local undead (well, people in zombie makeup) will meet at The Freedom Center at 7:30 p.m. then split into two routes winding around downtown and meeting back up at Fountain Square, where a free after-party will take place from 9:30-11:30 p.m. The crawl is free, but all are encouraged to bring a canned good or two to donate to the Freestore Foodbank. Donations will be collected at the beginning of the crawl and on Fountain Square.

Cincinnati Open Design Event (CODE) is an inaugural showcase of local style-, consumer- and entertainment-based design. The event kicked off Wednesday and continues Friday and Saturday with panel discussions on each aspect of design, happy hour events and more, all culminating with Saturday’s Freelance Market (11 a.m.-4 p.m.) and the Chaser Finale fashion show (7-10 p.m.) featuring designs by Amy Kirchen, Kristy Nguyen, Jovani and Project Runway’s Althea Harper.

Find more arts, theater and other events happening this weekend here. Looking to get in the Halloween spirit this weekend? Peep this week’s ScaryBeat for haunted house reviews and top picks for seasonal haunts and jaunts around town.

An initiative of Green Umbrella, the Great Outdoor Weekend is this Saturday and Sunday. Hundreds of Cincinnati parks celebrate nature with more than 120 free events that are open to the public. Whether you are taking your dog out for a stroll around the neighborhood, planning a hiking trip to a local park you don't often frequent, or taking a camping trip, there's no better time than this weekend to take an outdoor adventure.

The first day at the Cincinnati Nature Center inspired our outdoor adventure and our next stop confirmed it. Devou Park is most famous for it's picture-perfect view of Cincinnati. On any given day, you might see a professional and his camera atop the hill taking a photo of the skyline, a couple picnicking or perhaps a duo that was just wed. The park is definitely known for it's view, but did you know it has several miles of hiking and mountain biking trails too? It wasn't hard for me to get lost underneath the canopy of trees and forget that I was less than five miles from downtown Cincinnati.

Does all of this outdoorsy talk have you searching for your old hiking boots yet? You're not the only one. Hundreds of people, rookies and seasoned outdoorsmen alike, are marking their calendars for the Great Outdoor Weekend. Before you set off into the wilderness, you could attend a seminar that will make you trail ready. Learn where to set camp, how to pack, and what to eat on your next trip by attending a Great Outdoors seminar and overnight with Roads Rivers and Trails.

Get dolled up and party like it’s 1933 with performances by Rose Room and Cin City Burlesque and a DJ Havination dance party. Hot bites will be cooking up all night long; use the speakeasy password “George Remus” for cocktail specials featuring Canadian Club. It’ll be just like a scene in Boardwalk Empire — minus all that murder and stuff.

Want to get involved in local television and radio? Media Bridges hosts a holiday open house at their Central Parkway facility from 6-9 p.m. Friday. Learn about Media Bridges, WVQC and how to create your own media for TV and radio. Go here for more information.

If your office holiday party is a drag, skip that shit and head to Newport for Powerhouse Factories’ annual shin dig Friday. Enjoy drinks, music and great deals on Powerhouse’s rockin’ posters — perfect gifts for the music lovers on your shopping list. The first 50 partiers to arrive will get a freebie holiday print.

It’s Northside Second Saturday time, and this month features NVISION’s newly expanded space with the opening reception for artist Nancy Gamon; craft beer tasting contest at Mayday; Chicken Lays an Egg three-year anniversary; Hopnosis small batch specialty beer bash at The Comet and much more.

Did reading this month’s drink column make you want to learn more about the art of brewing and cupping coffee? Rob Hoos of Nossa Coffee, Adam Shaw of Deeper Roots Coffee, Alex Stahler of Tazza Mia host a “Coffee Nerdom” class this Sunday at 1215 Wine Bar & Coffee Lab in OTR. Learn about specialty coffee, the cupping process and single-brewing methods — and get your caffeine buzz on. Go here to register.

See our To Do picks for more suggested happenings this weekend and check out our calendar for a full lineup of arts, theater, classes and other events.