On the three-year anniversary of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, News 12 is taking a look at how businesses survived and changed forever as a result.

Dan Friedman, the programming director of the Bedford Playhouse, says the playhouse’s biggest challenge when it slowly reopened was staying relevant.

Many new films were being streamed on home platforms at the time they were released in theaters.

So, how'd they do it?

"We tried to translate as much of what we could of what we're doing here online. We were doing a lot of things outdoors, social-distanced. We did a lot of live music. We also had an inflatable movie screen, so we could do movies outdoors," he said.

The Pelham Community Rowing Association said it was trying to be creative after the months-old studio had to close.

"We worked with the village of Pelham to be able to use the outdoor space," says Brian Clark, president of the PCRA's board of directors.

Clark says they brought their rowing machines outside and also went virtual.

"We implemented Zoom and remote workouts, which we still do today." he says.

Restaurants and bars expanded with tables outside and started offering more to-go options.

The Westchester Taco Grill in New Rochelle offered taco packs, and for the first time -alcohol to go – once the pandemic began.

"Alcohol sales have definitely saved our restaurant. Everybody's been ordering alcohol like crazy. Between our sangrias and margaritas." says an employee of the Westchester Taco Grill.

And while no one wants to repeat the past few years, there was a silver lining.

"We are really stronger. We now have protocols in place so we do know what to do should anything like this happen again," says Courtney Walker, of the Bedford Playhouse.