After weeks of tourists flocking to the bars on Broadway, the city is finally taking action.

Following weekends of unchecked partying in Broadway bars, Nashville is finally coming to terms with the pandemic.

Last weekend, in a new building with sweeping views of the city’s skyline in a gentrifying neighborhood in East Nashville, organizers advertised a party on social media dubbed “The V.I.P.

Judging by videos posted to Instagram the next day, Nashville looked like it had opened its own Hedonism resort.

Welcome to Nashville during a pandemic, where the party carries on, unabated.

Romanticized as ground zero for rising country singers who play for tips in overhyped cover bars like Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge and Kid Rock’s Badass Honky Tonk and Rock & Roll Steakhouse, the district on weekends pre-pandemic was typically tense and crowded.

Following Cooper’s lead, Metro police made their first arrest on Wednesday for a mask violation — a 61-year-old black man who gave his address as the Nashville Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter.

Along with (finally) enforcing the mask mandate and shutting down the “transpotainment” industry of party buses that circle downtown, the mayor implemented a new public-health order on Saturday that prohibited restaurants and bars in downtown and midtown from selling to-go alcohol.

The inclusion of the midtown neighborhood, near historic Music Row, underscores how the Broadway behavior, like the virus itself, has been spreading.

Bars in midtown have been busy, and last weekend, members of a bachelorette party acted out in the city’s Gulch neighborhood, with one attendee allegedly intentionally coughing on a restaurant employee after being reprimanded for moving tables in violation of the eatery’s social-distancing policy.

Alex Jahangir, chair of the Nashville Covid-19 task force and Nashville health board, tells Rolling Stone.

At least three beer buses — including one called the “Rowdy ‘Rona” — were spotted 16 miles south, in the Cool Springs neighborhood this weekend.

In response, she spearheaded an online petition calling for the city to close Broadway bars until the pandemic is controlled.

“As long as these bars are open, they are going to draw in tourists that want to have a good time and don’t care about wearing masks and get close to each other — all of the things that scientists are advising against.”.

The proprietors of Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, the Fox Bar & Cocktail Club, and Chopper Tiki — each forced to close since March — held a press conference recently asking the mayor to enforce health regulations downtown.

The Nashville music community is starting to mobilize as well, with artists like Caylee Hammack, Maren Morris, and Cassadee Pope speaking out in support of small businesses and neighborhood bars.

“Broadway bars taking advantage of these loopholes right now are cannibalizing our Nashville small businesses who have been following the health orders since day one,” Morris tweeted on August 4th?

Downtown, midtown, and the Gulch neighborhood — all tourist hot spots — had minimal foot traffic on Sunday afternoon

While there were diners on some patios and rooftops, Broadway bars like Tootsie’s and Kid Rock’s were closed

Richardson’s Dee’s Lounge and others like it remain closed, and Nashville is still recording new Covid-19 cases daily

The Nashville Health Department added 190 new cases on Sunday, bringing Davidson County’s total to 22,904

“City leaders have responded to our pressure and outrage, and the result is that the lower Broadway party scene is moving in a safer direction,” Crowell says

“The Broadway bars continue to be the squeaky wheel, each weekend getting more grease — resources, media coverage, and city dollars