The first weekend of May is full of free fun, music and shopping. Plus, strawberry season is upon us and it is art crawl weekend.

Spring TACA craft fair

The first weekend in May is always the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists' spring crafts fair weekend, filling the lawn of Centennial Park with more than 200 talented artisans on site to talk with visitors, offer demonstrations and sell their wares.

A unique feature to this fair is that the artists are required to be on site. That means you can meet the artists, learn what inspires them and sometimes even see how they create their work. There is also a Kids Tent with hands-on art activities hosted by community partners like Turnip Green Creative ReUse Center, Frist Art Museum, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Public Library. There will also be food vendors.

This 43rd annual spring TACA craft fair is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to. 5 p.m. Sunday at Centennial Park. Admission is free.

Details: tennesseecraft.org

Farmers Market Strawberry Jubilee

The Nashville Farmers Market Strawberry Jubilee is from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Saturday, with strawberry eating contests, a strawberry dessert recipe competition and a cooking demonstration. The market is at 900 Rosa L. Parks Blvd.

Details: nashvillefarmersmarket.org

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Art crawls

Monthly art crawls offer great art (and complimentary wine and appetizers at many of the galleries).

The downtown Franklin Tour of the Arts is 6-9 p.m. the first Friday of every month around downtown Franklin. Details at franklinartscene.org.

Downtown Nashville's First Saturday Art Crawl is 6-9 p.m. the first Saturday of every month along Fifth Avenue North and around downtown, with more than 20 downtown art galleries participating. A free shuttle from gallery to gallery is available. Details: 615-743-3090 or nashvilledowntown.com.

On the first Saturday of the month, there is an art night in the Wedgewood-Houston area, where you can join a free arts and music walk beginning at 6 p.m. Details at am-wh.com.

Graceworks Spring Bling

GraceWorks Ministries' annual Spring Bling sale of hundreds of pieces of donated jewelry is set for May 3-4 in the conference room at the 104 Southeast Parkway headquarters in Franklin. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. both days.

Organizers say volunteers have been cleaning, polishing and pricing the jewelry — rings, bracelets, pearls, vintage, sterling, etc.

This will be the fourth year for the sale, and prices generally range from $5 to more than $200. Proceeds go to GraceWorks to help the needy in Williamson County.

Details: graceworksministries.net

Puppets play 'The Tempest'

Wishing Chair Productions presents the story of the wizard named Prospero who stirs up a raging storm on an enchanted island with the help of a magical fairy. This is a kid-friendly version of the Shakespeare play, "The Tempest" featuring Tom Tichenor's marionettes. Show times are 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. on May 3, 4, 10, 11, 17 and 18 at the Main Library at 615 Church St. in downtown Nashville. Free admission.

Details: library.nashville.org

Mephisto

The Mephisto Outlet Store is having a spring tent sale May 3-4 outside the store at 305 Seaboard Lane in the Cool Springs area. The sale, which is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., offers shoppers an extra 10 percent off the already discounted shoes for men and women. The sale includes samples, factory seconds and discontinued styles. And Mephisto promises free food, too.

Details: 615-771-5900

Free Vanderbilt concerts

The Vanderbilt Community Chorus will perform works by influential female composers at 8 p.m. Saturday in Ingram Hall at the Blair School of Music.

On Sunday, Philharmonia will play a concert at 7:30 p.m in Ingram Hall

Details: blair.vanderbilt.edu

Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra

The Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra will celebrate its annual concerto and competition winners in concerts this weekend. The concerts will be performed at 4 p.m. Sunday, at the Madison Campus, Seventh-day Adventist Church, 607 Larkin Springs Rd., in Madison; and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at St. George’s Episcopal Church, 4715 Harding Pike, Nashville. All concerts by the NPO are free and open to the public.

Details: nashvillephilharmonic.org

Williamson County Band

The Williamson County Community Band will play a free concert at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Williamson County Enrichment Center at 110 Everbright Ave. in Franklin.

Details: wcparksandrec.com

Cedar Glade Festival

The 41st annual Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade Wildflower Festival will take place Friday and Saturday at the Cedars of Lebanon State Park, in Lebanon. Friday festivities are from 7 a.m.-9 p.m. in the Cedar Forest Lodge and include a salamander program, an insect program and a native plant sale.

On Saturday, at the Park Nature Center, there will be a native plant sale, a bird walk, a photography workshop (with a fee), two Cedar Glade hikes with botany professionals, workshops on edible plants and on landscaping with native plants, and an owl prowl. The festival is a joint venture between the park and the MTSU Center for Cedar Glade Studies.

Details: 615-444-4565

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.”