Things got a little weird at Tuesday night’s City Commission meeting.

Citing “a car shaped like a phone,” a “street legal U.F.O.” and Lawrence’s general proclivity toward the odd, mayor Jeremy Farmer proclaimed May 29-31 as “The Official Weird Weekend.”

This weekend will host both the Lawrence Busker Festival and the Art Tougeau parade, a new partnership orchestrated by longtime Busker Fest director Richard Renner.

“I came to the city with that idea,” he says. “I thought, ‘Where else are you going to find a guy who can fit himself through a toilet lid and a car shaped like a boat?’ That’s not something you see every day.”

The Art Tougeau parade starts at noon Saturday in front of the Lawrence Arts Center before making a loop through downtown Lawrence.

Alakazam, one of this year Lawrence Busker Festival acts

The Lawrence Busker Festival, now in its eighth year, is bigger than ever, Renner says.

In addition to the partnership with Art Tougeau, organizers have added more stages and performers to this year’s lineup. With more than 25 acts on the roster, the festivities will spread out over six sites in the downtown area, including stages for musicians, poets and magicians.

Renner also moved the festival from late August, partly so visitors could enjoy the street performers without the sweltering late-summer heat.

“Originally, the reason we did it in August was to attract the college students to downtown. They didn’t show up, and it took us eight years to figure that out,” Renner jokes. “But who did show up were families and working adults. It made it pretty easy to make the move.”

This year’s Busker Fest kicks off with the Busker Ball tonight at the Granada Theater, 1020 Massachusetts St. From 7 to 9 p.m., visitors will have the chance to watch the festival’s “biggest and best” acts perform on stage and join them afterward for an informal meet-and-greet.

Tickets cost $8 for adults and $5 for children, and can be purchased at the Granada box office or on its website.

The fun continues Friday through Sunday in downtown Lawrence, where comedy contortionist Alakazam will make his Busker Festival debut.

Dubbed “The Human Knot,” the one-time grand finalist of “Australia’s Got Talent” mixes traditional vaudeville, circus sideshow and contorted comedy, and has performed at private events for superstars such as Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Woody Harrelson, among others.

He’s also one of Renner’s top picks.

“He’s been acknowledged as perhaps the best busker in the world. We’ve been trying to get him for a while,” says Renner, noting how the shift to May has made it easier to secure performers.

Also among the highlights: Canadian one-man band Bandaloni, World Champion Unicyclist Jamey Mossengren and “hugely popular” festival returnees USA Breakdancers and strongwoman Mama Lou. There’s also The Living Statue, a “mechanical mime” whom folks can line up to paint.

Tricks of the Light

If fire is your thing, the Busker Festival has plenty of it, from the Tricks of the Light fire dancers to the fire-eating, sword-swallowing The Wicked Liars to “one-man fire circus” Jason Divad.

“He’s a pretty guy that all the women like,” Renner says.

On Saturday at noon, all manner of strange and innovative vehicles from Lawrence and across the country will descend upon downtown Lawrence in the annual Art Tougeau parade.

The parade begins at the Lawrence Arts Center, then rolls south to 11th Street, then right onto Massachusetts Street for four blocks, then turns right onto Seventh Street for one block before turning right onto New Hampshire Street to finish back at the Arts Center.

The wackiness kicks off with a Final Friday Street pARTy from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday in front of the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St. With several of the kooky rides on display, children can race cars dipped in paint down a ramp, and also decorate cardboard cars.

Renner’s own creation, a four-wheel pedal car “made out of trash,” will be among those on display — “rain or whine,” he says.

He’s been working on the “Recycle Cycle” for about 15 years now, after finding the vehicle in a field of abandoned cars near Gardner. He’s since added bits and pieces (tin cans for headlights, a frying pan as a hubcap) and has entered his ride in Art Tougeau a handful of times.

Renner says he’s happy to bring the car back to the parade this year, even in the midst of juggling (pun intended) the logistics of the expanded Busker Festival.

“As if I needed something else to do,” he jokes.