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A move to break up Hobart's traditional Carols by Candlelight into smaller community-based events has angered residents.
The popular St David's Park event was altered in 2015 and again in 2016.
But after a ticketing fiasco last year, the Hobart City Council abandoned its joint production with local company ExitLeft Productions.
The council voted on Monday night to instead plough $46,500 into a series of smaller community events.
The move has prompted a backlash on social media, with a stream of people venting on ABC Radio Hobart's Facebook page.
Jolanda Narrding posted: "Disappointing. Christmas in Hobart will never be the same again."
"Absolute rubbish idea. Literally, is this a joke?" Carinda Rue added.
Dianne Summers said: "These people have been around for five minutes, carols has been around for decades. Who do they think they are?"
Another post joked that the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) should take on the event and call it Dark Carols.
Instead of an outdoor event at the Royal Botanical Gardens, ExitLeft has opted to scale down and run a series of more intimate concerts in St David's Cathedral, which holds 650 people.
As well, there will now be council-backed events in various locations around the city.
Lord Mayor Sue Hickey said the event needed to change and the community-based carols were a better idea which would cost considerably less than the $100,000 for St David's Park.
"We do understand that some people will be disappointed because generations of people will have traditionally gone to St David's Park," she said.
"I'm personally sorry that it's not going to be held there but I do think these community carols will go a long way towards fostering great community spirit."
She hoped the move would appease those lamenting the loss of the St David's Park event.
"I hope so because the other one is a private operator doing their own thing," she said.
"These ones are ones that we'll be sponsoring and yes, they'll be organising them as individual groups but there's a variety."
While some will be traditional carol nights with a religious theme, others will be community oriented, with singers from the SES, Rotary and the Hobart City Farm.
"Another good one will be a multicultural event held by the Korean Full Gospel Church in Hobart and that one's going to have a Korean cuisine supper afterwards," she said.
"So there's a good variety, there'll be some out at Lenah Valley on Turnbull Park, and Lansdowne Crescent and New Town will be coming together, a whole group of residents are organising that one.
"So I think overall there'll be something for everyone in this group of carols."
Topics: carnivals-and-festivals, christmas, events, christianity, local-government, hobart-7000