MELBOURNE, Fla. — It's no secret the past year has been tough on small businesses from closures to staffing shortages. For one Melbourne improvisation group, it also took away laughter.

What You Need To Know

  • Funky Dog Improv was selling out shows early before the pandemic began

  • It's set to take the stage again to a sold-out restart show Saturday in Melbourne

  • Jobs and business are coming back to Melbourne and Brevard County

But now, more than a year later, the group members are finding their joy again — along with other businesses in the Melbourne community.

"It's been a stressful year for everyone," says Funky Dog Improv owner Aaron Karnes. "Your ability to give back, being taken away so quickly."

For the Funky Dog Improv troupe, giving back means delivering a performance that brings a laugh.

In late 2019, the brand new group was full-steam ahead.

"We were laying the tracks as the train was coming up behind us," Karnes said. "Shows were selling out a week and a half ahead of time."

But since the pandemic hit, there have been no smiles in their shop for nearly a year and a half.

"We shut down March 2020," Karnes says. "And then everything just stopped."

But months later, business is finally getting back to normal.

Brevard County added nearly 44,000 jobs this April compared with the same time last year. According to the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, the area's jobs are on the rebound, up close to 1,500 jobs from a year ago.

The city of Melbourne is adding more than 40 jobs monthly right now.

"(We're) doing things like the Back in Business campaign, just getting the word out that everybody's open," Melbourne Main Street Executive Director Kim Agee said.

Eighteen businesses have opened in downtown Melbourne since the beginning of 2020, and nearly all of the 285 locally owned businesses have reopened.

But although business is back, some of them are struggling with staffing shortages.

"They are closing a little bit extra since they can't handle all seven days a week, but they want to get open and they're ready," Agee said.

The improv's return performance is Saturday. The group will be on stage in front of a sold-out crowd — and laughter will fill the air again — for the first time in more than a year.

"I think there will be tears, at least on my part," Karnes said.