photo by: Mike Yoder

Sara Twister takes aim with her bow and arrow in the Lawrence Busker Festival on Friday, May 26, 2023, in downtown Lawrence.

Downtown Lawrence will be inundated with crowds and performers once again at the end of May for the annual Busker Festival.

The free outdoor festival hosts numerous street performers, including magicians, comedians, jugglers, acrobats and even some little Scottie dogs. One attraction set to appear at the festival is Canada’s Mike Wood, aka the Cabbage Comedian, who will bring a catapult designed to launch cabbages that Wood catches on his head.

The festival is set to begin on Friday, May 24, with shows in the evening beginning at 5:30 p.m. The festival continues on Saturday and Sunday with shows starting at 1:30 p.m., according to the Busker Festival website. The 16th annual festival has been dubbed “Circus On the Streets.”

The festival will be held on New Hampshire Street with multiple stages throughout the area between Seventh and Ninth streets and between Massachusetts and Rhode Island streets. Additional stages will be set up at the “Sorcerer’s Circle” in the 800 block of Massachusetts Street and at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St.