CLERMONT, Fla. — As local small businesses continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, an art trail in Clermont is helping bring people into local businesses. 

Business is blooming again at Kim’s Cabbage Patch in Clermont. 

But owners Kim and Suzi weren’t sure if that would happen when they had to shut their doors last July after both catching COVID-19.

“They told us what we were going to do. They said, ‘You’re coming back. We’re not letting you go,” said Kim Fielding, owner of Kim’s Cabbage Patch. “By the grace of God and an amazing community, that’s why we’re still here 20 years later.”

After surviving their shutdown, the owners are appreciative of anything that brings in business. 

“It’s getting them back through the doors. Getting them out of the house, back through the doors,” Fielding said.

Rise Clermont is the City of Clermont’s answer to helping the community navigate the challenges of the pandemic. Barbara Hollerand came up with a new way to bring people into businesses. She was inspired by a picture in the New York Times of a painted umbrella. 

“I thought, ‘That kind of illustrates the thing. We’re all in a storm, but we don’t have to be doom and gloom about it,’ ” Hollerand, business liaison with Rise Clermont, said. “Adding color and light and that sort of thing, and I thought this would be something fun to do in Clermont.”

Close to 30 different umbrellas, many of them designed by members of the South Lake Art League, are now displayed through the Umbrella Art Project at area nonprofits and businesses.

Kim and Suzi have a special connection to the umbrella displayed at their market, which helps bring awareness to Chase Animal Rescue.

“They have over 100 animals, between guinea pigs, rabbits, lemurs,” Fielding said. “They have their own Madagascar out there.”

And they say their client traffic has increased by 10% since having this umbrella on display.

“Take a selfie, and send it in, be part of it. Go around to the different businesses, and support the local businesses,” Fielding said.

“We’re here to help and we also want to do it in fun ways that maybe we haven’t done it before because this doesn’t have to end when things get better,” Hollerand said.

Rise Clermont encourages residents to visit stops along the trail and take pictures of their favorite umbrellas through April 30. You can send them to Rise@ClermontFL.org for a free T-shirt and chance to win a gift card.