Jovita Moore mural on Bellwood Coffee building recommissioned
May 5 — Happy Tuesday! Welcome to the table.
In this edition of “Family Meal,” you’ll find a story on Bellwood Coffee and its vow to recommission the mural of late Channel 2 Action News anchor Jovita Moore at its new Grant Park location. The decision to paint over the mural on the side of the building led to online backlash that eclipsed the coffee shop’s opening. The story includes comments from Bem Joiner of Atlanta Influences Everything and WSB-TV President and General Manager Marian Pittman.
I’m also resharing Sarra Sedghi’s 2025 story on the recovery efforts Georgia pecan farmers face following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Sarra’s story is a finalist at the Atlanta Press Club Awards tomorrow night.
I have a quick update on an upcoming Virginia-Highland restaurant. And South City Kitchen shared its recipe for the restaurant’s popular pimento cheese spread.
Finally, as we approach the World Cup, I still want to hear from locals on restaurants they would recommend to visitors headed to Atlanta this summer – outside the Downtown soccer fan bubble around the stadium. Send me an email at beth@roughdraftatlanta.com with your suggestions.
Cheers!
🍸 Beth
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BELLWOOD COFFEE TO RECOMMISSION
JOVITA MOORE MURAL IN GRANT PARK
🎨 Local coffee shop Bellwood Coffee opened its sixth location in Grant Park last week. But the decision to paint over the mural of a beloved local public figure on the side of the building led to online backlash that eclipsed the coffee shop’s opening.
Prior to its April 25 debut, the owners of Bellwood Coffee painted over a mural memorializing late Channel 2 Action News anchor Jovita Moore after newly installed windows “significantly” cut into the painting. Moore, who joined Channel 2 in 1998, and won her first of eight Emmys in 2001, died from brain cancer in 2021. Beyond her Channel 2 anchor job, Moore was an advocate for local nonprofits, hosted numerous community events, and served as a mentor to local students.
“Jovita loved Atlanta, and Atlanta loved her back,” WSB-TV President and General Manager Marian Pittman told Rough Draft. “Whether she and her kids were volunteering with one of her many nonprofits, like Meals on Wheels Atlanta and Our House, or she was hosting any number of events in our community, her passion for the community was clear.”
☹️ Commissioned by Atlanta United Soccer, Moore’s mural in Grant Park was part of a series from artist Tommy Bronx depicting local trailblazers. Following its removal, people took to social media expressing their anger and disappointment over the erasure of Moore’s mural from the building at 568 Boulevard.
Bellwood Coffee quickly addressed the community backlash directly on Instagram, calling the mural’s removal a “mistake” and that they acted “without enough consideration.” They vowed to “make it right” with the mural’s recommission.
Atlanta Influences Everything co-founder Bem Joiner said it was clear that Bellwood Coffee didn’t know any better. “Once they found out, they tried to remedy it, and that’s the way to do it,” he said. “I think there’s a larger discussion here, if you don’t want this to continue happening, as Atlanta continues to grow. It’s Jovita today, it’ll be somebody tomorrow.”
Moore was an “early adopter” of Atlanta Influences Everything, Joiner added. “We had a personal relationship with Jovita. When she passed away, it hurt.”
Joiner feels the apology from Bellwood Coffee’s owners is genuine. He appreciates that they sought to rectify their mistake rather than claim ownership over the wall. Provided Bellwood Coffee recommissions Tommy Bronx for a bigger and better mural, Joiner sees no issue and urges people to move forward.
👉 Read the rest of the story here.
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ATLANTA PRESS CLUB AWARD FINALIST
🌀 With Atlantic hurricane season beginning in less than a month, I wanted to reshare Sarra Sedghi’s story from 2025 on Georgia pecan farmers and the recovery efforts following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene the year before.
Sarra’s feature on what Georgia pecan farmers face over the next decade is up for an Atlanta Press Club award tomorrow night in the Narrative Writing/Reporting category.
🏆 Rough Draft will be well represented at the awards. Associate Editor and TV/Film Critic Sammie Purcell is also up for an Atlanta Press Club award in the Entertainment Journalism category.
Go Team Rough Draft!
Here’s part of Sarra’s nominated story, but I encourage you to read the full report on what Georgia’s pecan farmers continue to face, nearly two years after Hurricane Helene.
After back-to-back hurricanes, Georgia’s pecan farmers brace for the future
🌳 Hurricane season coincides with pecan season.
Severe weather is seldom kind to agriculture. A hard freeze too late in March or April shrinks a peach crop, while excessive temperatures and moisture yield lackluster, fungus-ridden tomatoes. Between mid-August and mid-October, the Atlantic faces peak hurricane season, leaving Georgia’s pecan crop particularly vulnerable.
Georgia is the nation’s top producer of pecans, providing about one third of domestic nuts. The majority of Georgia’s pecans are grown in the state’s southern half, a frequent path for Gulf Coast hurricanes. Tree crops are already at risk in a severe storm. Not only does the size and potential damage dwarf vine and legume crops, but trees also require more time for regrowth. Pecan trees generally grow between 70 and 100 feet tall and don’t bear fruit until the age of seven.
🌬️ Hurricanes cause short- and long-term effects on pecan farms. Even if strong winds don’t topple trees, such winds can still tear limbs and remove pecans, reducing that year’s harvest and worsening quality.
“The weight the tree is carrying causes greater limb breakage [and] blows fruit off,” said Buck Paulk, owner of Shiloh Pecan Farm Nursery in Ray City, GA, located about 15 miles north of Valdosta. “[The fruit] winds up spoiling on the ground because it wasn’t in a place of maturity where it could sustain itself.”
Pecan farmers have to replant fallen trees and wait for them to reach their fruit-producing age, about seven years.
💸 In 2023, Hurricane Idalia carved a path through the Southeast, causing $1.2 billion in losses for Georgia pecan farmers. But if Idalia was a blow, Hurricane Helene in 2024 created a double-whammy of storms farmers previously regarded as once in a generation. East and south Georgia were particularly hard hit by Helene, enduring what’s called the “dirty side” of the storm.
According to Lenny Wells, professor of horticulture and pecan extension specialist at the University of Georgia’s satellite campus in Tifton, Georgia’s pecan industry specifically experienced a total loss of nearly $580 million. More than 48,000 acres were affected, and more than 397,000 trees were lost, costing more than $118 million in direct tree loss and more than $417 million in future income loss. Helene also wiped more than 36 million pounds of the 2024 pecan crop, equating to a loss of nearly $62 million.
👉 Read the rest of Sarra’s story here.
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A LA CARTE
🦊 Opening update: The couple behind Kinship Butcher & Sundry in Virginia-Highland began hiring this week for their new Virginia-Highland restaurant, So. Fox, taking over the former Farm Burger space. Set to open this spring, Chef Myles Moody and sommelier Rachael Pack named the restaurant for an indigenous Southeastern grape varietal – the Muscadine or Scuppernong, also known as the “Southern Fox.” Read more here.
🧑🍳 Restaurant industry job board: A new Atlanta restaurant industry job board will launch soon. Called ATL the Industry, the job board caters to the Atlanta hospitality community and includes industry news, jobs, and other restaurant and bar opportunities. People can sign up here.
RECIPE
🧀 This week, South City Kitchen shared its recipe for the restaurant’s pimento cheese.
Culinary Director John Spotkill recommends grating your own cheese for fresher pimento cheese. Spotkill also uses the acidity in pickle juice and peppadews to balance the richness of the cheese and mayonnaise in the recipe. Korean chili flakes provide some spice and a flavor punch.
👉 Click here for the full recipe.
➡️ Get double the Atlanta food and dining coverage with “Family Meal,” edited by Beth McKibben, on Tuesdays at 5 p.m., and “Side Dish,” edited by Sarra Sedghi, on Thursdays at noon. Subscribe to both here.
