The owner of Nashville’s downtown Acme Feed and Seed will delay the opening of his popular bar and live music venue until at least the end of July, and wishes other bar owners would follow suit. Tom Morales announced his decision earlier this week, which he says is due to the increase of COVID-19 cases in Music City, as well as both employees and guests at other establishments not following the guidelines of wearing a mask.
“It’s really not much of an inconvenience,” Tom told News Channel 5. “If it’s raining, you put up an umbrella, if you get into a car you buckle a seatbelt. Let’s wear a mask. Let’s get through this together as one.”
Tom also had harsh words for other bar owners, whose lack of following Metro Health guidelines also impacted his decision.
“They’re creating incubators for the virus,” Tom noted. “It’s based on greed, really, because if we all did this together and played by the rules like good community members, we’d all emerge out of this together on an equal playing field. If people want to write their own rules and do it the way they’ve been doing it, it’s just going to hold us all back.”
Tom is hoping that he can work with other business owners downtown, so they can all safely be in business as soon as possible.
“As a community we ought to have mutual respect for each other,” he said.
Most of the bars and restaurants downtown have reopened, including John Rich’s Redneck Riviera, which was among the first to reopen, and Kid Rock’s Honky Tonk Bar, which was later cited for not following the Metro Health rules, which resulted in the temporary loss of their beer permit.
Steve Smith, owner of Kid Rock’s Honky Tonk Bar, previously said the charges were grossly unfair.
“The Nashville government is, like, communist. They’ve got us behind a Berlin Wall,” Steve told The Tennessean. “We met with Mayor Cooper and the doctors weeks ago and explained how having bar service is safer than table service. They’re doing everything they can to put us out of business. The state of Tennessee is already in Phase 4 and they’re talking about holding us in Phase 2. It’s against our constitutional rights.”
A specific reopening date for Acme Feed and Seed has yet to be announced. Updates will be posted on their website.
