Those Businesses That Pivoted During the Pandemic? Some Pivots Became Permanent.

“Making It Work” is a series about small-business owners striving to endure hard times.

At a time when most parking lots sat empty, the gravel lot in the outskirts of the Detroit suburbs was overflowing with cars — an unsettling sight in fall 2020. A stream of masked visitors looked around, wandering a wooded path toward lights deep within the woods, unsure of what to expect.

All the visitors knew was that the night promised an escape from their homes. They had come for Glenlore Trails and the promise of an unusual half-mile hike through an illuminated forest.

“We wanted it to be like walking through a movie,” said Scott Schoeneberger, who created Glenlore Trails with his wife, Chanel. “We had no baseline of what ‘good’ looked like. We just went out and put a bunch of lights in the woods.”

Visitors that night experienced more than a few lights: They were immersed in a world of interactive video walls, multihued waterfalls, video projections that lit up the forest canopy, and more. The project was a hit. Within a week, tickets were sold out for the monthlong run, and Mr. Schoeneberger was adding more dates. The couple soon realized this long-shot idea might help their family’s primary business, Bluewater Technologies, which builds live experiences for corporate and convention clients, get through the Covid-19 pandemic and keep some of their 225 employees off furlough.

They certainly didn’t expect that, three years later, Glenlore Trails would make up 6 percent of the company’s income, with expectations that it will account for 25 percent within five years. “It was a whirlwind, and, four years in, it still kind of feels that way,” said Ms. Schoeneberger, who manages operations for the events.