TRAVERSE CITY — As happened with a lot of things, COVID-19 came along and basically stopped the Friends of the Historic Commons in its tracks. Now the nonprofit that formed to support preservation of the old Traverse City State Hospital structures and grounds has been back in the saddle and planning a free public event at Grand Traverse Commons on Oct. 15.

“Beauty is Therapy,” running from 1-4 p.m., will feature panel discussions and tours focusing on the complex’s buildings and history along with Friends’ key initiatives. “Beauty is therapy” was also the philosophy of founding medical superintendent Dr. James Decker Munson, who believed that psychiatric patients would be uplifted if surrounded by a beautiful environment.

The hospital first opened as Northern Michigan Asylum in 1885. Later renamed Traverse City State Hospital, it closed in 1989, according to Raymond Minervini II. He’s a partner in the Minervini Group, the developer that began the process of renovating historic Building 50 into retail, restaurant, residential and event space along with preserving other structures more than two decades ago. Minervini Group continues to own part of the Commons, though “we are owners and co-owners with other individuals and entities — the site has been condominiumized,” Minervini said.

“We’ve been a 501c3 for a few years, got sidetracked by COVID, but then we actually started moving on some of these projects,” said Friends board member Winnie Simpson. “Our two main focuses now are trying to save the historic arboretum … and the other side we’re working on is a history, trying to develop and somehow document stories of people who worked there, people who had family there.

“Those things are starting to move and we want to get the public energized about them.”

Board member Kathy Steeves, a historian and Ph.D. who is retired from a 25-year career teaching at George Washington University, said panel discussions will follow two tracks: People and Place. Those participating in the people-themed panel will include individuals with family members who had been employed at the state hospital, along with a nurse who worked there.

“Out of that session, we want to encourage the stories — for people to tell their stories,” said Steeves, who lives at Grand Traverse Commons and has been spearheading an “Asylum Roadshow” to collect objects, documents and images documenting the hospital’s history. “We’re going to set up ways for people to let us know they want to do that and we’ll figure out ways to get those stories.”

Minervini will appear as part of the place-themed panel that will review the evolution of preservation at the Commons and current status.

“We’ll be focusing on the structures because that’s what we’ve been so much involved with,” he said. “Preserving and adaptively reusing has been our primary function for the last 20 years.”

When the Minervini Group stepped in, Building 50 at almost 400,000 square feet was the largest structure. There were also about 22 smaller buildings of varying sizes, some of which have been renovated and put into reuse as well. Minervini said about eight structures of varying sizes remain unchanged.

While the state hospital occupied about 460 acres, the actual Village at Grand Traverse Commons is about 63 acres with other organizations including Munson Medical Center, the Women’s Resource Center and Grand Traverse Pavilions occupying remaining land.

“The whole campus at one point was almost 700 acres,” Simpson notes. “It went from where Munson Hospital is today … all the way up to where Meijer is today — all of that whole area. A good portion was farmland. They self-farmed with patient labor, they had dairy herds, the pigs were up there by Meijer. At one time people called that area Pig Town … it was just a huge operation. Where Greenspire School stands today there was a greenhouse that grew flowers and vegetables all year long.”

Also on Oct. 15, two tours will center on the historic arboretum of trees throughout the campus. With donations and grants from individual donors, a substantial grant from Rotary Charities, and additional funding from the Traverse City Rotary Good Works Fund and Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, several surveys have been conducted to catalog some 465 trees and assess their health.

“There’s been an obvious need over the years to have a private nonprofit that could be part of the maintenance and curation improvement efforts,” Minervini said. “That’s why the most recent endeavor with the assessment of the trees on the property and historic areas has been a great initiative to start with.

“A lot of these trees, a lot of the maples and other trees, are suffering due to age and wear and tear from storms and other things that have been happening. They need to be cared for and cultivated and replanted.”

The Friends hope events like “Beauty is Therapy” will not only educate, but encourage more people around the community to get involved as supporters whether through sharing their stories, volunteering or donations. Minervini said such efforts help fill a void that developers and owners can’t.

“This is a perfect meeting of the for-profit redevelopment world and property ownership world coming together with Friends of the Historic Commons to … help preserve, maintain and support those elements that are generally shared with the public at large,” he said.

For example, Minervini Group doesn’t own the lawn around Building 50; the Village (condo) association does. “So much of this property is shared with the public at large, but not all of it is publicly financed.”

Those attending the “Beauty is Therapy” event should check in for a schedule of events at Kirkbride Hall at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons.

Arboretum tours will be conducted rain or shine. For more information, visit friendsofhistoriccommons.org.

Separately, the Village at Grand Traverse Commons is offering Taste of the Village Tours Fridays and Saturdays in October and select other dates. Tickets are $40 and include a two-hour guided walking tour and wine and beer tastings at Left Foot Charley and Earthen Ales. More information is available at thevillagetc.com/tour.