It’s been a good year for Traverse City’s History Center. Recent exhibits like a Lego event and a Magical History Bus tour have gone a long way in realizing executive director Bill Kennis’ goal: to make the History Center an attractive, family-friendly cultural destination. The community has responded, coming out in droves and making July the busiest in the museum’s history. Total visitors: 9,055. Now, thanks to a large-scale donation by TC’s Woodland Creek Furniture and a complete overhaul of its children’s section, the History Center is poised to become an essential stop for TC tourists and residents alike.

According to Woodland Creek President Rob Evina, the company’s team put more than 80 man-hours into handcrafting several furniture pieces for the History Center’s Kid’s Cupola. The donated set, which includes three custom tables, eight low stump chairs, and a new rug for the room, was delivered to the museum yesterday morning.

“We’ve been trying to reach out more lately, to do more things in the community, and this seemed like a great opportunity,” Evina says of the donation. “We needed some pretty strong furniture for those rambunctious little guys, so we built them some stuff that will hold up, but that also has a unique look.”

“It’s so much better than it used to be up there,” Kennis says. “Woodland Creek came in at 9 a.m., moved the old furniture out, brought the new stuff in, and we opened the room up to the public an hour later. It’s already been very popular.”

Want to scope out the new set-up? Stop by the History Center at 322 Sixth St.