Hamilton City Council's move to step back from event management in Garden Place has been applauded by the Hamilton Central Business Association.
Council has reviewed the Summer in Garden Place programme and found the most successful events had been delivered in partnership with businesses and community organisations.
HCBA general manager Sandy Turner said she applauds council for listening to feedback.
"The events we found are more supported are the ones privately run by different organisations. In most cities it is not the council's role [to manage events] - they are providing the space and the resources.
"We're quite excited that there is an opportunity that council are going to be supportive of new events. We are looking at running some markets over the summer so we are looking at putting in a proposal for that."
She said the market idea will showcase local designers and manufacturers.
"We don't want to compete with the night market, ours will be quite different. We would probably run it more of a twilight on a Friday, a lot of the detail still has to be locked in."
Council's community wellbeing manager Jennifer Murray said the focus for council will be on the city's 150th celebrations.
"Our new approach will be based on working proactively with key stakeholders to help bring events to Garden Place, rather than arrange and host them ourselves," Ms Murray said.
"We're interested in working with organisations whose events have a wider impact for the residents and business owners in Garden Place. The Indigo Festival, Chinese Lantern Festival and Children's Day are three Garden Place events traditionally delivered by other organisations, with support from Hamilton City Council. We would expect the organisers of those events will return this coming summer."
The programme came up for review in June, and was designed to bring more people into the CBD during the warmer months, attracting approximately 16,000 people to Garden Place last year compared to the 10,000 the previous year. It is run as part of the council's Garden Place Activation Plan which will continue to run.
"The Hamilton Central Safety Plan - launched recently - has not replaced the Garden Place Activation Plan, however they will share some objectives," said Ms Murray. "The City Transformation Plan will provide the strategic direction for Garden Place in the future."