Kingfield Business Owners Band Together After Vandalism
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Late Friday night, vandals smashed a rocking chair and knocked over planters outside Blackbird Café in the Kingfield neighborhood of Minneapolis.
"It looked like they had tipped it over a little bit and picked it up and smashed it," said Ashley Towers, general manager of the Blackbird Café.
The new Blackbird Café owners are no strangers to vandalism. Someone smashed their back door in February and broke into the building.
"They took our entire cash register, the entire drawer, smashed our back window by our bus stop," Towers said.
Just down the street, owners at The Lowbrow restaurant say six of their newly-planted flower pots were knocked down earlier this week.
"To see that someone has been disrespectful enough to pour all that love onto the sidewalk is really frustrating," owner Heather Bray said.
Bray, who has owned The Lowbrow for nearly a decade, said she has dealt with her fair share of vandals.
"They pried open the safe off the floor in my office and got away with the safe, and a couple years after that somebody broke our front door," Bray said.
Bray has advice for her new neighbors.
"Just hang in there because as you become integral to the community you'll find the amazing kind of support that you get from the neighbors," Bray said.
Despite it all, neither of the owners have ever second-guessed their location.
"They're not going to bring us down and it's only going to bring us closer together," said Towers.
"Just the love that we feel for our community and the love that they give back is amazing and I'm sure that Blackbird is going to have that experience, too," Bray added.
"We're just going to continue to get stronger in the community and be a strong staple on this corner," said Towers.
