NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Acme Feed & Seed will reopen on April 1 for the first time since briefly reopening in October.
The popular Broadway honky-tonk closed when the pandemic first started and didn't reopen until October. There was a two week period of operation before they decided to close the bar down again.
"Back in October we did and we felt like the challenge of being the police, the mandate police, was counter intuitive to our nature which is hospitality," said Tom Morales, owner of the bar. "We had several staff members that caught COVID and it became, you know, what is the better part of valor?"
Thursday's reopening will be a 'soft' reopening as bar staff acclimate to working again.
Morales said he was a little disappointed in the message from Governor Bill Lee on Thursday, asking for tourists to come to the state.
"I think the better message for the city of Nashville is hey we're a safe city. We're taking the science seriously and when we re-emerge it's going to be safe for everybody. We're not too far away. This is exciting. Let's do it right," he said.
To be clear, Morales is excited to reopen and thinks the city is very close to returning to normal.
However, Tennessee has had a slow start to its vaccination rate compared to other states according to CDC data.
