Wyndham local Graham Carter found out there was no market this year because, he believed, the cost of permits from the Southland District Council for the event was in the thousands.
Outraged, he went to Southland Mayor Rob Scott with his concerns about losing a "fantastic afternoon".
"The kids just love it.
" ... It’s all about kids this time of year," he said.
But Emma Stuck, who has organised the event for the last three years, said Mr Carter had the wrong end of the stick and really, the volunteers were just taking a break.
For example, blocking off the street was done with a private company, which cost $1800, but a council permit to do so was only $500.
The Southland Council had actually helped subsidise the costs in the last three years, she said.
On top of that, of the four main volunteer organisers, one had just had a baby and another was having surgery, and they were taking a year off and would be back next year.
They did not have the time or ability to cover costs for the event and the most important part was that it was free for the community to attend.
The event usually blocked off the main road for the vendors and live music and so children were safe to run around.
Mr Scott said the rules of cordoning off the road were changing as the government, through the New Zealand Transport Association, was focused on a more "risk-based approach".
This risk-based approach includes not treating smaller communities, who have low traffic, the same as bigger ones.
But being in a small town did not stop one vehicle flying through and causing havoc, Mr Scott said.
His council was looking into ways to support the smaller communities with those barriers as well as with volunteer fatigue.
"What we’re finding in our communities is we have the same people, the same businesses, the same groups of people ... running all these events, and you start to get volunteer burnout after a while," he said.
Mrs Stuck said they wanted to keep the event going, so as not to lose that community feeling.
"We want to be able to support them as much as we can," Mr Scott said.
