The crown jewel of the city's arts resurgence is getting much more complicated.

Spurred by bylaw complaints about the growing monthly celebration of homegrown culture, city officials have been meeting with members of the arts community to figure out just what to do about Art Crawl.

It's a thorny issue, as no one wants to assume control of a largely organic movement that has been almost universally lauded.

But as crowds swell and more vendors pour in, it's becoming evident that Art Crawl is getting growing larger than anyone expected since the event started roughly a decade ago. Now the question needs to be asked – what has to be done to keep the celebration fair and safe, but still stay true to its roots?

"It's going to be messy, but it's a conversation that needs to be had," said Jeremy Freiburger, the head of Cobalt Connects. Freiburger has been meeting with representatives from the city's culture division to map out a "community conversation" about the future of Art Crawl.

"We know it's a volatile issue – to even talk about controlling Art Crawl in any way."

Formal complaints few, grumbling lingers

It isn't as if the city has been inundated with formal complaints about James Street North when the crawl is taking place. In recent months, officials have received two formal complaints about the type of merchandise that's being sold on the street, as well as one safety concern that ended up being unfounded.

But rumblings do persist outside of the formal complaints process. "Concerns are being brought to our attention regarding the growth, type of vendors and non-art related vendors," said Al Fletcher, the city's director of licensing in a statement.

"In cooperation with our culture division, we have initiated discussions with the community to determine strategies to ensure local artists and the public are supported while maintaining the organic feel of Art Crawl."

The city is being especially cautious about those discussions, and denied interview requests both with Fletcher and representatives from the culture division.

Ward 2 councillor Jason Farr told CBC Hamilton the city has absolutely no desire to "assume ownership of Art Crawl," though he has heard some complaints as well.

They run the gamut from someone scaling a light pole to get power for an installation to street vendors selling merchandise similar to what's available in the shop behind them.

"Some merchants have had issue with vendors setting up – sometimes from out of town – and selling merchandise that's like what their store carries," Farr said.

Not your average cultural festival

Then there's the issue of crowd control. In the warm summer months, thousands of people line James Street North during Art Crawl, though the street remains open to traffic. Last year city staff looked into the feasibility of a full road closure for the evening, but Hamilton police indicated there aren't public safety concerns that would warrant road closures.

Hamilton police do not have crowd counts for the event or measure how it has grown, spokesperson Catherine Martin said Tuesday. Though many city events have paid duty police officers, Art Crawl doesn't.

"Division One patrol officers and ACTION team officers monitor and respond to any community concerns [at Art Crawl]," Martin said. "Hamilton Police are encouraged that citizens participating in Art Crawl are mindful of pedestrians and traffic."

For traditional festivals, crowd control, policing, and vendors are set up with a formal permit process. But all of that takes organizers and cash – and that's not what Art Crawl is all about.

"No one has ownership, which makes it virtually impossible to allocate costs to anyone," Farr said, while reiterating that the city has no plans to make permits necessary for Art Crawl vendors or shut things down.

"I can't see anyone wanting to stop a good thing."

City fears being 'lambasted'

Freiburger told CBC News that the city came to Cobalt Connects to help gather information and input in the hopes that something other than the city taking control could be figured out – because with city control comes permitting, insurance, and the usual festival headaches.

"The fear is that if the city takes control, they'll be lambasted," Freiburger said. The city would love to see a group of people come together for the logistics and organizational sides of Art Crawl, Freiburger said – but creating a committee like that out of something so organic and nebulous would be easier said than done.

"The city doesn't want to be that someone," he said.

Things would get especially controversial should permits become necessary to sell art on the street. "Then the fear is people would say 'your art isn't good enough to sell on the street,'" Freiburger said.

For now, Art Crawl remains as it has, and will happen this Friday on James Street North as it does the second Friday of each month.

But as conversations with the city continue, it will be interesting to see what role city hall plays in the crawl in the months and years to come. "Eventually, somebody has to play a role in keeping it safe, clean and marketing it," Freiburger said.

"And better [artists] are involved in the conversation now than letting that conversation have to happen to us later."