Tourists flock to Broadway in the midst of a pandemic

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — In the middle of a pandemic, tourists from across the country flocked to downtown Nashville over the weekend. This comes as more bars prepare to reopen for phase three on Monday.

Sunday morning NewsChannel5's Alexandra Koehn talked to people who were visiting from New York, California, Missouri, and Florida.

“Bar hopping, a lot of drinking,” Valle said.

Autumn Valle, Megan Brown, and Tamera David are visiting from Florida to celebrate Megan’s birthday.

“It’s been a blast, I’d rather be having fun than being at home,” Valle said.

Bars that don’t serve food can reopen at half capacity June 22 as part the city’s phased reopening plan.

“My daughter said, ‘Are you not concerned about corona?’ I said that’s down here on my list because like I said, I think everybody’s doing the right thing, and keep distancing away from people," Mike Wiber said.

Wiber said he’s pumped for more places to open during phase three. They’re visiting from Kansas City and leave on Tuesday.

“It’s my third or fourth time down here, trying to celebrate my 50th birthday,” Mike Dziura said.

They said they feel safe with the social distancing measures.

“We think they’re doing everything they possibly can to still let us have a good time and still be safe,” Wiber said.

Travis and Andreal Dershem felt the same.

“Capacity restrictions make you feel definitely safer so it’s not overpacked,” Travis Dershem said.

The couple is visiting Music City to celebrate their anniversary.

“Just the fact that people are out and about and willing to have a good time is nice,” Travis Dershem said.

Their community in Southern California is not open yet due to COVID-19.

“Unfortunately it’s closed down, and we’re kind of going backward actually,” Andreal Dershem said.

This past week was Nashville’s worst week for new COVID-19 cases since the pandemic started.