This weekend is stacked! Top 15 events you can't miss Sept. 22-24

1. Kroger Wellness Festival

The largest free health and wellness festival in America celebrates physical, mental and emotional health for the whole family. Features more than 150 experiences and food offerings. Barenaked Ladies headline Friday, Flo Rida on Saturday. Celebrity guests include Cameron Diaz, chef Amanda Freitag, Venus Williams and Peyton and Eli Manning.

Details: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, The Banks, Downtown. Free. Kroger.com/health.

2. Halloween Haunt & Tricks and Treats Fall Fest

Halloween Haunt finds Kings Island Amusement Park transformed into a nighttime, immersive haunt featuring scare mazes, scare zones, live entertainment and more. Some rides are open. It is not recommended for anyone under age 13.

Tricks and Treats Fall Fest is a fun, daytime adventure through the park with family-friendly fall activities, specialty food and craft beer, games, entertainment, trick or treating, rides and more. It opens Sunday (Sept. 24). Visitkingsisland.com.

Details: Haunt: 6 p.m. Friday-Saturday Sept. 22-Oct. 28. Tricks: 11 a.m. Saturday-Sunday Sept. 24-Oct. 29, Kings Island, 6300 Kings Island Drive, Mason. Visitkingsisland.com.

3. Cincinnati Comic Expo

Meet comic creators and celebrities, enjoy video game play and tournaments, tabletop gaming, costume contests and more at Cincinnati's largest comic and pop culture expo. Celebrities include Ashley Eckstein, Matthew Lewis, Ming-Na Wen, Bernard Hill and Brent Spiner.

Details: 3 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. Saturday-Sunday, Duke Energy Convention Center, 525 Elm St., Downtown. Cincinnaticomicexpo.com.

4. Little Amal Visits

This 12-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl has traveled across 13 countries and is now making her way across the U.S. Celebrate with her as she walks across the Roebling Suspension Bridge from Covington to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Details: 3-4:30 p.m. Friday, The Banks, 145 E. Second St., Downtown. Free.

5. Out of this World Celebration

Head to The Cov for the release of “Clive” key lime Berliner beer, and welcoming an out-of-this-world galactic art installation. Guests can try the new beer, get special glow-in-the-dark “Clive” T-shirt while supplies last, make tin foil hats and more.

Details: 4-8 p.m. Friday, Braxton Brewing Co., 27 W. Seventh St., Covington. Free. Braxtonbrewing.com.

6. A Permanent Nostalgia for Departure

This new group exhibition examines the legacy of Zaha Hadid, not as a conclusion but as a point of departure. The exhibition is part of the 20th-anniversary celebration of the construction of the CAC. Reception features a cash bar, music, photo booth and access to exhibits.

Details: 8 p.m. Friday, Contemporary Arts Center, 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown. Runs Sept. 22-Jan. 28. Free. Register: contemporaryartscenter.org.

7. 'Monsters of the American Cinema'

When his husband dies, a Black man finds himself the owner of a drive-in movie theater and caregiver to his husband’s straight, white teenage son. This play from Christian St. Croix is a haunting and heartwarming drama about fathers and sons, monsters and ghosts, queerness and race, and the power of unconditional love.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, Know Theatre, 1120 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine. Runs Sept. 22-Oct. 8. Knowtheatre.com.

8. Merchants & Music Festival

Large selection of food trucks, local businesses, beer and live music from Sister Hazel, Tonic and Vertical Horizon. Kids Zone from 2-7 p.m. with playground, circus, face painting, bounce house and more.

Details: 2 p.m., Tower Park, Fort Thomas. Free admission and parking. Merchantsandmusic.com.

9. Art Fair

More than 70 local and national artists sell one-of-a-kind creations. Enjoy food trucks, a beer garden, live music and family-friendly activities.

Details: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park & Museum, 1763 Hamilton Cleves Road, Hamilton. $5, free ages 12-under. Pyramidhill.org.

10. Country Applefest

More than 300 arts, crafts and food vendors, plus live entertainment each day.

Details: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, Warren County Fairgrounds, 665 N. Broadway, Lebanon. $1 admission cash only at gate, free ages 12-under. Free parking. Countryapplefest.com.

11. Oktoberfest celebrations

• Loveland: Enjoy live entertainment, wiener dog races, games, competitions, a kids zone with inflatables, food and beer. Free shuttle service from Early Childhood Center and Shopper's Haven from 5-10 p.m. each evening.

  • Details: 4-10 p.m. Friday, noon-10 p.m. Saturday, Nisbet Park, 126 Karl Brown Way, Loveland. Lmrchamberalliance.org.

• Newport: Live entertainment, food and beer, chicken dance, competitions in log sawing, beer stein holding and brat tossing, all under the big tent like they do in Munich.

  • Details: 5-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Festival Park, Newport. Free admission.

• Montgomery: Enjoy traditional Oktoberfest games and contests, circus performances, beer, food and live music.

  • Details: 12:30 p.m. Saturday, MPH Brewing, 7880 Remington Road, Montgomery. facebook.com.

• Deerfield Township: German-style craft beer from regional breweries, live music, games, food trucks and the Greater Project 5k.

  • Details: 9 a.m.-11:45 p.m. Saturday, Sonder Brewing Co., 8584 Duke Blvd., Deerfield Township. Free admission. facebook.com.

12. Big River Get Down

Enjoy two days of rock and Americana at this music festival hosted by The Revivalists' frontman (and Hamilton native) David Shaw. Friday's lineup: Hans Williams, Celisse, Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors, St. Paul & the Broken Bones. Saturday's lineup: Jake Korn, Black Joe Lewis, Band of Heathens, Durand Jones, The Revivalists.

Details: 2:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, RiversEdge Amphitheater, Marcum Park, 116 Dayton St., Hamilton. VIP $275-$500, $115 two-day general admission, $75-$100 single-day general admission, free ages 6-under. bigrivergetdown.com.

13. Whispering Beard Folk Festival

Another local music festival taking place this weekend highlights local and regional folk musicians. The lineup includes John R. Miller, The Tillers, Maria Carrelli, Buffalo Wabs & the Price Hill Hustle and more.

Details: 2 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Carriage Hill Farms, 2872 Lawrenceburg Road, North Bend. $75 weekend pass, $50 per day, $10 weekend pass ages 12-16, $5 per day ages 12-16, free ages under 12. Cincyticket.com.

14. Ault in Bloom

Professional flower arranging demonstrations, rose growers, garden crafts for kids, live string ensemble, cut rose sale, Raptors Inc. visits, free ice cream from UDF.

Details: 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Ault Park, 5090 Observatory Circle, Mount Lookout. Free. rosesgcra.org.

15. Cincinnati Psychotronic Film Festival

For something completely different, you can catch eight of the weirdest and wildest cult films ever made. Thursday's screenings: “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” and “Perdita Durango.” Friday: “The Sword and the Claw,” “The Dragon Lives Again” and “Deadbeat at Dawn.” Saturday: “Frankenhooker,” “House” and “Dr. Caligari.”

Details: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 5:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Esquire Theatre, 320 Ludlow Ave., Clifton. Presented by Torn Light Records. $60 all three days, or $10 per film. Esquiretheatre.com.

Worth the drive: Discover Steampunk, A Fantastical Hands-on Adventure

Learn how thinkers of the late 1800s, such as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and others, envisioned the future in this special exhibit, which includes hands-on experiments with more than 20 original, interactive machines inspired by their ideas.

Details: Runs 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily from Sept. 24-Dec. 10 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, 1100 Spaatz St., Fairborn. Free. nationalmuseum.af.mil.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Top 15 things to do in Cincinnati this weekend: Sept. 22-24