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It won't be a walk in the park for kids and their bears if Auckland's popular teddy bear picnic gets taken away. Kieran Nash reports.

If Ryan Patient goes down to the woods later this month, he's in for a big bad surprise.

Auckland's Teddy Bears' Picnic has been postponed until later this year, along with the city's International Cultural Festival.

There are a number of reasons for the move - the most telling is to push a $105,000 festival budget shortfall into the next financial year.

This alarms some members of the Auckland City Council, who fear these events may be canned altogether.

The cultural festival will be held in October and the Teddy Bears' Picnic in December.

Ryan, 4, was looking forward to the Teddy Bears' Picnic. He went last year with his bear (also named Ryan) and wouldn't like it if the event was axed.

Neither would his mother, Cathy Patient.

"I wouldn't want to see them can it. It's a bad idea. It would be sad to see it go."

She and her family have been going to the Teddy Bears' Picnic for the past couple of years, and make a day of the family event. Mrs Patient says events such as the Santa parade are better for older kids - this is the only council event for toddlers, who often have a shorter attention span.

"The kids really enjoyed it. They didn't want to leave. They were saying, 'We haven't done this! We haven't done that!"'

This may change under the new Auckland Council, warns councillor Glenda Fryer.

She says although there is funding for the events this year, there are no guarantees they will be around next year.

She says smaller community events like this will get the axe while larger "big boys" events, such as the Rugby World Cup and the World Rally Championship, get preference because they are the main money-spinners which make their organisers look good.

"I'm very disappointed the wonderful and iconic events like the Auckland International Cultural Festival and the Teddy Bears' Picnic have been lost, while at the same time the council is pushing megabucks on 'big boys' events.

"They shouldn't be  done at the expense of community events," she says.

Rachael Dacy, who manages city events for the council, says the galas have been postponed for three reasons: to even the spread of the year's event calendar; to shift the Teddy Bears' Picnic to Western Springs; and to push $105,000 of a $192,000 budget shortfall into next financial year.

"We have to acknowledge that the council hasn't generated enough external revenue for community events."

She says there hasn't been as much sponsorship money coming in because of the recession.

"When times are tough, sponsorship is impacted."

Mrs Patient isn't buying this argument.

"Everyone makes that excuse. Our rates haven't changed so I don't know how it can be the recession.

"They need to get more people out getting sponsorship and making people aware of it. You would think it would be a bit more pre-planned," she says.

Ms Dacy says the council remains positive it will get more sponsorship next year. "There's a lot more certainty in the market this year. We feel we're in a much better position to generate revenue for the next financial year.

"We're absolutely committed to keeping the Teddy Bears' Picnic."

However, when asked if this council can guarantee these events will stay, Ms Dacy says there is a firm commitment for this years' Teddy Bears' Picnic only.

"We have a contract in place which will be signed off. But after that, it will be up to the new council."

Ms Fryer says this is a problem. "I can foresee it being canned altogether because it's not a priority for council.

"The super-city wants to get businesses on board. They would prefer to get accolades from business rather than support the community," Ms Fryer says.