To Asheville: A Beautiful Requiem to Eaties Cereal Bar

Thanks to all that made Eaties Awesome! Sadly we are closed for good. I truly wished to create a space for community to come together and I think that wish came true. But wishes don't pay the bills. As some of you may believe, my desire to move to California was why I closed Eaties. The truth is...Eaties just wasn't making it. The true reasons vary: It's hard to compete with fast food, its hard to have a weird location, its hard not to charge ridiculous prices and its hard to have a restaurant based solely on cereal alone. WE RAN OUT OF MONEY! That is the ultimate truth. The few that loved us were unfortunately too few and too infrequent.

Eaties was a last stand in my mind before Asheville turned completely into Aspen Colorado...a yuppy tourist town. It is my observation that the creative folks are fleeing in droves. Maybe not too far...say West Asheville for example, but my experience with Asheville so far has been priding itself on how "WEIRD" it is but doing everything in its power to destroy that creative spirit. The only "weird" thing left is perhaps the few poetic souls who display creativity on the streets. The buskers, street performers and even the homeless are the last stand. We are left begging the rich tourists for a buck.

On more than one occasion, a tourist would come in to Eaties and comment on how "Funky" and "weird" asheville really was based on my little restaurant. Then they would turn around and eat at one of the nicer restaurants down the street. If I could have charged for people to have peeked at Eaties I probably wouldn't have to be writing to you all right now and Eaties would be good as gold.

My hope is that the creative folks will fight back a little harder. Vote for city council, RUN for city council, protest when their city changes in ways they dislike. Practice random acts of art. Create REAL community. Create REAL industry so we don't have to all work service jobs! Take a stand! Join Arts2People, cooperatively buy commercial real estate, support local businesses, realize there is more to community than the drum circle (which IS very kick ass). Direct tourists to the River arts district. VISIT the river arts district. Make time to help a local non-profit. YOU ARE PART OF WHAT MAKES ASHEVILLE why people want to live here, visit here and be here. Reclaim that! Asheville is YOUR CITY!

This may seem odd coming from someone considering moving 3,000 miles away. But I haven't given up completely on this beautiful mountain city. When asked what it is I enjoy about Asheville the most I often say, "the people". That answer still holds true. All the amazing people that helped make Eaties what it was. Again I sincerely give thanks.

Becky Johnson