\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4077517_web1_260320-Cabin-show-00061.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Andrew Walker, managing director of the Cottage Country\u2019s Lake and Cabin Show, at the Red River Ex on Friday.<\/p>\n
Around 100 exhibitors have set up displays at the 17th annual event, which runs through Sunday afternoon. The show gives visitors an opportunity to learn about companies that can help them build, decorate and renovate a cottage retreat.<\/p>\n
All but a handful of the businesses are based in Manitoba, said Walker, who has run the show since 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the show organizer, that\u2019s why you do it \u2014 you do it to help great businesses match with customers that are looking for good quality local companies to help them out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Steve Peters and Linda Drummond hope being at the show will give their brand-new business a boost. The Altona couple started Cedar Spirit Saunas earlier this year. The company builds luxury saunas using western red cedar wood.<\/p>\n
(newslettePrompt)<\/p>\n
Peters, a carpenter, and Drummond, a physiotherapist with a passion for health and wellness, started the business after building a sauna in their backyard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was such a blessing in our life that we wanted to share it with other people,\u201d Drummond said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw the benefit that it had for us (and) we wanted to not keep it to ourselves. (We) feel that the world needs this \u2014 spaces to slow down and spaces to relax and chill out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple offer five models that range in price from $16,500 to $39,900, and they\u2019re open to doing custom work. They\u2019ve sold 10 saunas so far, and are looking forward to connecting with visitors and fellow exhibitors throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to build the best and make people happy,\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Aubree Smith, 6, checks out the chairs at Country Classic Furniture as grandmother Jocelyne Poirier and furniture maker Don Kroker talk.<\/p>\n For Jeff Southam, Friday marked his return to the Lake and Cabin Show after a four- or five-year absence.<\/p>\n When he first exhibited at the show with Sunshower Sprinklers, it was to tell visitors about the service the company has offered since Southam and his brothers founded it in 1994: installing irrigation and sprinkler systems on residential and commercial properties.<\/p>\n However, things changed for the company last summer during Manitoba\u2019s worst wildfire season in 30 years. Customers started calling Southam and asking him to install sprinkler systems to protect their cottages.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m passionate about it because I can show you the pictures from my dock where it\u2019s like, oh man, if that wind changes directions, (the fire\u2019s) on you in no time,\u201d said Southam, who has a cottage on Pelican Pouch Lake, near Kenora, Ont.<\/p>\n Annual revenue at Sunshower Sprinklers is approximately $2.8 million, Southam said, and this year he expects 10 per cent of that business to come from people looking to protect their cottages and homes.<\/p>\n The company offers a range of options, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a business opportunity, sadly, but it\u2019s real and if it\u2019s (wildfire threat) not in your neighbourhood this year, it might be in five years or 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Jordan Toews, who owns and operates Toews Timberframes in Grunthal, has been appearing at the Lake and Cabin Show since 2018. It\u2019s been a worthwhile investment for the 10-year-old company, which does 50 per cent of its business in cottage country.<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely, it\u2019s had impact,\u201d Toews said. \u201cI would say it\u2019s not always immediate, but it\u2019s just consistently getting our name out there.\u201d<\/p>\n He points to the cover of his company\u2019s brochure, which features a photo of a stunning hillside cottage he and his 20 employees built. The owner hired the company after meeting Toews at the show.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Darren Ernest checks out a display at the Northern Lights Hot Tubs & Saunas booth.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen someone pulls the trigger on the build, they\u2019ve seen us every year (and) they come and then they call us,\u201d Toews said.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t According to Walker, timber frames are trending among cottage owners. Other trends include adding saunas and satellite internet.<\/p>\n \u201cPost-COVID, it became more broadly acceptable to work from home,\u201d he said. \u201cReliable satellite internet now has allowed people to actually work from the cottage.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to owning and operating Cottage Country\u2019s Lake and Cabin Show, Walker runs cottagetips.com, which publishes an annual magazine aimed at cottage owners.<\/p>\n The entrepreneur divides his time between Ottawa and his cottage on the Winnipeg River.<\/p>\n aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Aaron Epp Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. Read more about Aaron<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Aaron produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n