Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced Friday that the Upper Peninsula and Traverse City Region will move to phase five of her reopening plan starting June 10.

Phase five allows salons, movie theaters, and gyms to reopen as long as they follow safety protocols. Indoor social gatherings and organized events of up to 50 people will be allowed in the two regions, and outdoor social gatherings and organized events of up to 250 people will be allowed if social distancing is maintained. Outdoor performance and sporting venues will be open with a larger capacity limit of 500. On June 15, personal services including hair, massages, and nails will reopen statewide. Whitmer said she expects the entire state to advance to phase five in the coming weeks.

Numerous Traverse City salons responded immediately to the news Friday, posting announcements on social media that they will begin working through their wait lists to book appointments starting June 10. In response to an inquiry from The Ticker, Meg Weichman of the Traverse City Film Festival said the organization is "working on a plan for what opening up the theaters looks like safely, and will announce on our social media as soon as we have all of the pieces in place. We are grateful to have plenty of space to spread out at the State Theatre."

Weichman continued that "before we can open our doors, our nonprofit theaters will need to raise a significant amount of money after suffering substantial losses during the closure as well as without the TCFF this summer. All employees are currently furloughed and have been maintaining things on a volunteer basis. Once we do reopen, it will not be operations as usual as far as the extent of programming we will be able to offer. We may explore special pop-up events, but given the economics of theatrical exhibition and the current limitations, we are also at the mercy of when the film studios will once again release high demand movies." TCFF has launched a fundraising campaign called Light Up The State to collect donations for the State and Bijou, with special rewards and contest drawings associated with different donation levels. If TCFF raises over $5,000, Michigan Economic Development Corporation will match the community’s donations with an additional $5,000.