In Carlsbad, California, restaurant owners defied public health orders and are not waiting for permission to reopen indoor dining. Most of the restaurants in the California town are now open inside and outside. These Americans aren’t waiting for the governor of their state to approve the move. They say they’re opening and never going back.

It all started with a handful of restaurants several months ago under a Constitutional, peaceful protest banner. Since then, 600 businesses have joined the protest. They say they are not listening to Governor Newsom anymore.

Carlsbad has been the leader in defying Governor Newsom’s lockdown orders, but up until now, they’ve been kind of hush-hush about it. They didn’t want to draw too much attention to indoor dining, but they’re out of the closet as of today. They are not hiding anymore. Indoor dining is open outdoor dining open, and they want everybody to know about it.

Greg Nelson, the owner of Gregorio’s Italian Restaurant, spoke about the reopenings:

The people took their power back. That’s it. It’s that simple.