CELEBRATION, Fla. — Attractions and hotels are taking a bit of a hit as fears and conversations about the COVID delta variant spike. So we're On The Town at a unique mom n' pop in Osceola County to show us how these destinations are pivoting.
- Linda Teets is a co-shop manager at Little Thimble in Celebration, persevering as Florida awaits the delta variant cases to peak.
- The pandemic is forcing her business model to pivot. “It's made us think, 'OK, we've gotta have something new and exciting to do to keep people coming in and having fun. And one of them is Andrea,' " Teets said.
- Andrea is a paper-quilling instructor, who discovered her passion four years ago. “It started with this apple,” she said, pointing to an example on the wall. “This is my life.”
- Paper quilling is an art form involving meticulously coiled strips of colorful paper, shaped into teardrops, circles, etc. to create images of literally anything you want. Her classes are supposed to kick back up in September, after stalling during the pandemic. “Just in the last week to 10 days, we've really seen a dramatic drop-off in inquiries or people booking for vacations,” DT Mimich, president and chief executive officer of Experience Kissimmee said. But he added that there is some light. “Thank goodness we had the June and July, like we had — record numbers.”
- “The positive and the good thing is,” Mimich added, “we're still seeing very strong activity for, like, November, December.” Little Thimble, meanwhile, is located at 660 Celebration Avenue, #130.