KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Changes to First Fridays are being welcomed by some, but others are decrying the moves as unfair.
Organizers announced this week that after Erin Langhofer was shot and killed at last month's First Friday in the Crossroads District, they want to bring the monthly festival back to its roots.
Art vendors, food trucks and performers will not be allowed at this month's First Friday event, which happens this Friday.
Adrian Gardner is a food truck owner, and he said he has been a part of First Fridays since day one.
"I'm not going anywhere because I've been in the crossroads just as long as y'all have been open," Gardner said. "So if I'm a part of the building process, now that it's flowing pretty good, you can't just kick me to the curb."
Gardner said the decision was taken by organizers without consulting business owners like him, which he saw as a rebuke to the nearly 20 years he has spent serving food to hungry customers at First Fridays.
"I'm shocked because we found out after the fact," Gardner said. "You would think, we're paying a fee, we would find out first."
The Crossroads Community Association said in a news release that the decision was taken after liability insurance was set to skyrocket after Langhofer's death in August.