WORCESTER, Mass. - Thousands of people flooded Park Ave as stART on the Street wrapped up its final festival about a week ago. In a request to the City Council this week, Mayor Joe Petty is asking the city manager to study the feasibility of revitalizing an annual local art and vendor market in Worcester, but an experienced group feels left out.

“It's such a great event, I’d like to see it continue in maybe some other way here in the city," Petty said. "Whether it be run by or led by the city or Worcester’s Cultural Division or some other organization in Worcester.”

“We are questioning why, with him wanting to start a new initiative," Tina Zlody said. "Why stART directors and coordinators weren't contacted.”

stART co-founder Zlody said they haven’t spoken with the city about revitalizing a similar event.

“It's just a concerning time for figuring out why we weren't contacted in order to help with this initiative or contacted after we decided that 20 years was going to be enough because we begged for help," Zlody said. "And we didn't get any.”

The leaders of the festival announced this month’s event would be the final farewell to stART on the Street in its 20^th year.

Mayor Petty noted at a recent meeting the city council recognized organizers for their decades of work; work which Zlody said can be daunting.

“It brought in people from all over. And there was not just the September event, but also the winter event they used to have at Union Station, which brought in a lot of people, too," Petty said. "I know it’s a lot of work, a lot of effort, but something we should be looking at.”

“We want Worcester to grow. We loved what we did, but again, we just kept running into walls and then we got tired," Zlody said. "That can be daunting when you feel like you're not supported by your city, but you're bringing things to your city.”

Now Zlody said, between events like the Caribbean Festival and organizing groups like Centro and many others, there’s voices who need to be heard.

“I mean, you have to connect with the people that are creating events, not just us," Zlody said. "There's so many events that are happening in the city of Worcester, and you kind of see in the overarching conversations both with the media and within the groups, that the problem is, is that we're not supported and we're having a difficult time managing things.”

And Worcester’s mayor also said there’s work to be done to make the process smoother for organizers.

“We do well in some cases, some cases a little more complicated, especially when you shut down a major street. It can get a little complicated," Petty said. "Some of the other festivals can be complicated, especially when people are new at it. It gets a little more complicated. They don’t know all the different parts to navigate the city of Worcester. But we're trying to get better at it and try to get one stop shopping.”

“I've always said, that you need like a czar, someone who whose job is dedicated to reaching in between factions and people and departments and making it run really smoothly," Zlody said. "And I don't know if the city's willing to dedicate someone to do that.”

Zlody said the hope is the city has conversations with the groups who host large-scale events to make the process better as Worcester continues to grow.