Author: Cottage Life

Categories
Cottage Life

Muskoka renames district road to honour Wahta Mohawks First Nation

Photo by Shutterstock/Anna Kraynova

Muskoka Road 38 winds through the District of Muskoka’s backcountry, connecting Highway 169 to Highway 400. Weaving through maple trees and granite outcroppings, the road cuts straight through the heart of the Wahta Mohawks First Nation.

Displaced from their homes in Kanesatake, Oka, Que. by the federal government, the Wahta Mohawks were relocated to Muskoka in 1881. Yet, despite the peoples’ long history with the area, they’ve had little opportunity to establish an identity. But that’s beginning to change.

On March 20, the Muskoka District Council passed a unanimous resolution to change the name of Muskoka Road 38 to Kanien’kehá:ka Iohatátie, meaning Mohawk People Road. The name change is part of the district’s attempt to strengthen Indigenous relations and honour its side of the truth and reconciliation process.

In June 2022, a multi-jurisdictional working group started meeting to figure out the details associated with changing a road’s name. The group included district staff from roads and transportation, geographic information systems, communications, and the continuous improvement unit, as well as staff and elected officials from the Township of Muskoka Lakes and Wahta Mohawks First Nation. The group discussed what impact a name change would have on databases, such as Google Maps, how it might affect emergency services, and what kind of budget would be required to replace road signs.

To select a name, Wahta Mohawks First Nation staff began an engagement campaign, reaching out to community members through newsletters, emails, direct mail, in-person outreach, and various social media platforms. Community members were asked to submit names in Kanien’Kéha, the Mohawk language, along with the English meaning of the name and the rationale for selecting it.

Forty-five names were submitted. Wahta Mohawks First Nation staff created a naming committee to narrow the submissions. The committee included Wahta Mohawks chief and council members, Wahta community elders, Wahta community youth, and two fluent Kanien’Kéha speakers. Three possible names were selected: Kanien’kehá:ka Iohatátie (Mohawk People Road), Wahta Iohatátie (Wahta Road), and À:kweks Iohatátie (Eagle Road).

In February, a tri-council was assembled, which included Wahta Mohawks Chief Philip Franks, Wahta Mohawks Councillor Lorie Fenton-Strength, Township of Muskoka Lakes Councillor Ruth Nishikawa, and District Chair, Jeff Lehman. Georgian Bay Mayor, Peter Koetsier, chaired the meeting as an unbiased facilitator. The tri-council had the opportunity to ask questions about the Wahta Mohawks’ history and the name selection process. In the end, the council adopted Kanien’kehá:ka Iohatátie as the new name for Muskoka Road 38.

“The new name, Kanien’kehá:ka Iohatátie, recognizes the Wahta Mohawks as a people and the territory where we live,” said Chief Franks in a statement. “Kanien’kehá:ka Iohatátie is no longer a number on a map; it now indicates an active community of people who have a unique language, culture, and history in Muskoka.”

The name still needs to be ratified by the Township of Muskoka Lakes’ council, which will likely happen in April. And Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation needs to sign off. The road’s grand renaming is scheduled for September 2023 in conjunction with the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

As this name change will impact more than just the peoples of Wahta Mohawks First Nation, district staff are working to educate and support locals affected in the area—there are approximately 200 residential and commercial properties along Muskoka Road 38. To ease the transition, the district is offering a goodwill payment of $100 to each household or business along Muskoka Road 38. The payment is intended to cover the time and cost associated with updating identification, contact information, signage, and business materials.

Any residents or business owners with questions about the name change can contact Tina Kilbourne, project manager, at 705-645-1200 x 4308 or tina.kilbourne@muskoka.on.ca.

Need more news?

Find your cottage state of mind all year round with our weekly newsletter, Dockside

Sign up here

Categories
Cottage Life

This is what to expect from severe wind activity

Elena Berd/Shutterstock

Tracking and predicting severe wind events is a current challenge for meteorologists and researchers.

“In the past, we wouldn’t know that wind events were happening,” says Gerald Cheng, Warning Preparedness Meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). “People have to report them.”

That is why ECCC meteorologists now watch social media for storm activity, in addition to sending out alerts. “When we see that the damage is extensive, we will survey the area,” says Cheng.

ECCC also partners with Western University’s Northern Tornado Project to monitor and capture tornados and downburst activity.

“In 2017, our first year of looking for tornados in forested areas of Ontario and Quebec, we saw a record-breaking tornado outbreak,” says David Sills, a doctor from Western University’s Northern Tornado Project (NTP). “That is because we were looking for them.”

Current NTP findings

The NTP found that tornadoes are being spotted later in the season, but the frequency of tornadoes is not increasing over time.

They are also comparing data from 1980 to 1990 and from 1991 to 2020 and are working on a new 30-year climate projection. Surprisingly, they found more severe wind activity in eastern and southern Quebec, not the prairies, where they expected to see it. The next dataset will determine if this is an actual trend or an anomaly.

In the meantime, the NTP is relying on satellite technology to track tornadoes and downbursts. “If there is damage, it pops up pretty quickly,” says Sills. “We have found tornados that would’ve otherwise been lost.”

How the ECCC monitors severe wind activity

The ECCC primarily uses radar technology to track weather patterns, but detecting severe wind activity continues to be difficult as the technology evolves.

To overcome these challenges, ECCC has put in 33 new radars since 2017, eight of which are in Ontario. These radars cover most of the province until the Fort Severn area. “If we to know if these events are on the rise, we will need a complete data set,” says Cheng.

Even with these advancements, predicting weather remains a challenge. “There’s a limit to the amount of lead time in predicting storms,” says Cheng. “Alerts are not 100 per cent accurate. People need to know the signs of severe weather.”

How can people prepare?

Public education is just as crucial as the alert system. There will always be a possibility of severe weather, so “people should check the forecast before going outside and be situationally aware when they are outdoors,” says Cheng.

ECCC recommends going to your basement when you are at home. If you are outside, stay low, protect your core, and seek shelter immediately.

And, when it comes to protecting cottages, Sills acknowledges a significant challenge. “Trees protect cottages from wind damage, but once in a while, a dead or decaying tree might also fall and cause damage,” he says.

Cottages near the shore are at an even greater risk. “There’s nothing to protect them from the winds coming across the lake. So, people should stormproof their shore,” Sills recommends.

Help the NTP and ECCC help Canadians. Report any severe wind damage by visiting the NTP website.

Need more news?

Find your cottage state of mind all year round with our weekly newsletter, Dockside

Sign up here

Categories
Cottage Life

What are icebreakers doing in Georgian Bay?

Photo by Shutterstock/Denis Comeau

If you’re a resident around south Georgian Bay, keep an eye out for the red hull of an icebreaker.

Last weekend, the Canadian Coast Guard’s CCGS Samuel Risley carried out icebreaking operations in Midland Harbour, opening a passageway for the CSL Frontenac to depart.

Earlier in the month, the CCGS Samuel Risley and the CCGS Judy LaMarsh were spotted around the North Channel on Lake Huron conducting icebreaking exercises to simulate close-quarter vessel escorting. The CCGS Judy LaMarsh is a light icebreaker that the Canadian Coast Guard purchased in November 2021, bringing its fleet up to 19. The exercises were intended to train the crew of the new vessel for when it engages in joint Canadian-United States Coast Guard icebreaking operations on the Great Lakes.

According to Jeremy Hennessy, a spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard, it’s common to see icebreakers on Georgian Bay at this time of year. They provide ice escorts for commercial vessels and conduct harbour breakouts for commercial ports.

“CCG icebreakers operate on the Great Lakes between western Lake Erie and Sault Ste. Marie (including interconnecting waterways/rivers) between December to March annually, and on Lake Superior once the Soo Locks re-open, typically around mid-March,” he said in an email.

Icebreakers use their bows, which are curved like the back of a spoon, to slide on top of the ice, breaking it with their weight. They create passageways for other ships, free trapped vessels, and help prevent flooding by breaking the ice into smaller pieces. This allows the wind and currents to clear the ice out of the way, preventing ice jams and ensuring good water flow.

From Midland, the CCGS Samuel Risley is headed to Lake Superior to conduct the initial spring breakout for the Port of Thunder Bay. While the CCGS Judy LaMarsh is headed towards Chaleur Bay in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to continue its training exercises in shallower ports, such as Shippagan and Caraquet, Hennessy said.

The Canadian Coast Guard advises that people stop all ice activities while icebreaking operations are happening in the area, including walking on the ice, fishing, and snowmobiling. Even after the icebreakers have left, the public should remain cautious. “The ice may move, creating a real danger for anyone on it,” the Canadian Coast Guard said in a statement.

Need more news?

Find your cottage state of mind all year round with our weekly newsletter, Dockside

Sign up here

Categories
Cottage Life

Federal government pledges $11.7 million to Ontario wetland, grassland, and forest conservation

Photo by Shutterstock/Wildnerdpix

Ontario’s conservation efforts are getting a major boost from the federal government.

Earlier this month, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, announced that his ministry would be providing more than $11.7 million to support the Ontario Land Trust Alliance’s (OLTA) efforts to conserve the province’s wetlands, grasslands, and forests.

“Canada—and Ontario—matter in the global fight to conserve and protect biodiversity. Our country is home to 24 per cent of the world’s wetlands, 25 per cent of temperate rainforest areas, and 28 per cent of remaining boreal forests. These ecosystems are globally significant as they absorb carbon, mitigate against the impacts of climate change, and protect biodiversity,” Guilbeault said in a statement.

The funding is provided through the ministry’s Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund (NSCSF). The goal of the fund is to reduce two to four megatons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by supporting projects that conserve, restore, and enhance wetlands, peatlands, and grasslands to store and capture carbon. The fund stands at $1.4 billion and will be doled out by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) over the next 10 years.

The ministry selected the OLTA as a funding recipient because of its advocacy work for groups committed to the long-term protection and conservation of natural and cultural heritage sites across the province. “We are really grateful to Environment and Climate Change Canada for this significant support. It’s the biggest funding program that we’ve received in our lifetime,” said Alison Howson, the executive director of the OLTA.

The alliance coordinates, educates, and provides grants to land trusts around Ontario. Land trusts are charitable groups that act as custodians of significant plots of land. The OLTA works with over 33 land trust members, including the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust, Couchiching Conservancy, and the Muskoka Conservancy.

The OLTA trains members on topics such as habitat restoration, species-at-risk conservation, and climate solutions. “We don’t have any land that we hold ourselves, but we provide a whole suite of different supports to the other organizations to do the activities on the ground,” Howson said.

The funding provided by the ECCC will go towards a new program that the OLTA has started. It’s working with 10 land trust members to secure high carbon lands across the province. “The key focus is on securing lands that have good carbon sequestration and storage,” Howson said, such as wetlands, peatlands, and grasslands. “But the lands will have other benefits as well. They will have high biodiversity value. And we’re focusing on restoration of habitat, so conserving land that can be restored for particular species at risk.”

Land trusts tend to be more flexible than the federal or provincial government and are better equipped to protect small parcels of significant land, especially in southern Ontario where the land tends to be fragmented. “The federal or provincial governments aren’t necessarily interested in or are able to leverage protection of smaller parcels for a protected area,” Howson said. “But we’re able to do that through working with private landowners who are interested in donating, or in some cases, selling their properties to land trust charities, and then the charities will hold those lands.”

Already the OLTA has secured parcels of significant land near the Ganaraska Forest, northwest of Oshawa, and Thunder Bay. “We’re protecting those types of projects from other use, such as logging operations,” Howson said. “They’re really significant wetland and forested swamp areas.”

A voice from the wilderness

Get The Great Outdoors, our biweekly brief on all things nature

Sign up here

Categories
Cottage Life

Private mortgages have risen 72 per cent in Ontario, and they could have an increased default risk

Photo by Watchara Ritjan/Shutterstock.com

Private mortgages have become more common than you might expect in recent years. While they’re still much rarer than the traditional route, there has been a significant uptick in private mortgages in Ontario in just the two-year span from 2019 to 2021. According to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), the rate of private mortgages increased by a whopping 72 per cent in that time.

What is a private mortgage anyway?

According to Ivan Lobo, a real estate consultant at Made in CA, a private mortgage is “a flexible option for borrowers who may not qualify for a conventional mortgage, because of poor credit or other financial situations.” When someone doesn’t qualify for a conventional mortgage, they might decide to take out a private mortgage instead, so they can still make the offer on the home.

“Private lenders don’t require borrowers to undergo stress tests, which banks use to ensure that buyers can afford a mortgage rate that is two per cent above the current rate,” Lobo says. “This exemption offers borrowers more flexibility if they don’t meet the strict underwriting standards of banks.”

Basically, a private mortgage avoids the stress test, so you can qualify for a private mortgage easily. They also have shorter terms than the traditional five-year term that you would receive from a bank, at just one or two years.

Is there a higher default risk?

Since private mortgages lack oversight and regulation, this can create a significant risk for borrowers. “Private lenders usually charge higher interest rates and additional fees, leading to higher costs for the borrower over the loan’s life,” says Lobo. These costs “could cause defaults among borrowers who have overextended themselves.”

Because the loans are short term at only one or two years, they also require renewal more often. And those with a private mortgage at a high interest rate may not even be able to renew their loan at all. “For markets where house prices have fallen say 30 per cent or more, it’s very likely for private lenders to call in the loans,” Lobo said.

And if the borrower is able to renew, the rate will likely end up much higher than the initial offer, leading to a significant default risk.

What does this mean for the market?

If default rates rise, this can have a negative affect the market. According to the Canadian Bankers Association, the default rate for November 2022 was at 0.07 per cent. If that number starts to rise in a significant way, it will inevitably affect the market as power of sales start to pop up with regularity.

Currently, the default rate isn’t concerning, but reports on the rate lag by months.

Buy, sell, rent, dream

Get The Key, our weekly newsletter on all things cottage real estate

Sign up here

Categories
Cottage Life

Ontario is banning NDAs on real estate deals. What does it mean for the market?

Photo by Novikov Aleksey/Shutterstock.com

 As of April 1, Ontario realtors can no longer use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or confidentiality clauses to obstruct consumers from making complaints to the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO).

Before this legislation came to pass, a realtor’s NDA or confidentiality clause would prohibit a client from complaining to RECO. For instance, if a realtor didn’t disclose a property’s defects to a buyer, and the buyer sues the realtor, an NDA would bar the buyer from reporting the agent to RECO.

With the new legislation, a consumer can always make a complaint to RECO, even if the parties legally resolve the issue, according to Joseph Richer, the RECO Registrar.

“The new provision follows existing case law and other regulated sectors that have similar provisions,” says Richer. “RECO is pleased the government agreed with RECO’s recommendation that it be added to the code.”

Will banning NDAs hurt realtors?

This new legislation could be an issue for realtors. The details of the complaint may be posted on the RECO website, and any realtor with a conviction will definitely posted about.

Now, a complaint about a realtor could be searchable when future clients look up their name. This could be damaging to a realtor’s reputation, which is very important in the world of real estate.

But Belleville realtor Doug Peterson isn’t worried.

“I support it,” says Doug, who is the team leader at Rufo Real Estate, Royal LePage ProAlliance. “If a practitioner or a registrant has done something wrong, they shouldn’t be able to effectively buy their way out of it.”

How will this NDA ban affect the real estate market?

Peterson doesn’t think this new legislation will affect home values. In fact, he believes it will make the real estate business in Ontario more professional.

The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) would agree. This NDA ban is part of a larger updated code of ethics from the Trust in Real Estate Services Act in Ontario. OREA’s website says the Act was created in 2020 to “ensure that Ontario is a leader in North America when it comes to real estate standards.”

How will the ban affect consumers?

Peterson sees the new regulation as a consumer protection tool. This way, consumers can report a real estate agent who “cuts corners” to RECO.

In some instances, a RECO ruling could mean a realtor would have to complete a course or receive a suspension. Some rulings even lead to a discipline hearing or taking the realtor to provincial court.

Peterson and his colleagues plan to educate their clients about the new code of ethics rules through blog posts. He wants his clients to know that they have rights, and that they should be treated with professionalism and care.

“It’s not a major issue for most realtors,” says Peterson, with a chuckle. “Because we try not to make mistakes that are litigious.”

Buy, sell, rent, dream

Get The Key, our weekly newsletter on all things cottage real estate

Sign up here

Categories
Cottage Life

How to tap trees and make maple syrup

By brm/Shutterstock

Got any maple trees at the cottage? Although red and silver maples will yield syrup, sugar maples are preferable for their higher sugar content and superior flavour. They are most easily identified by their leaves, which have five lobes and smooth, rather than serrated, edges. Because it’s easy to get species confused when the branches are bare, it’s best to identify and mark your trees in advance.

8 foods that pair beautifully with maple syrup

A several-day thaw on the heels of freezing weather will trigger the sap flow. Southern and eastern Ontario cottage country usually experience the flow in mid- to late February, while for Parry Sound-Muskoka it’s mid-March. In the Sudbury-Manitoulin region, it’s usually the last week of March. The earliest run yields the lightest-coloured (and generally believed to be the finest) syrup, and the sap will flow best on warm, sunny days that have been preceded by a sub-zero night.

Here’s what you need

  • a carpenter’s brace, or electric drill, and 7/16″ bit
  • spiles
  • a hammer
  • pails
  • a large pan (a sizable baking pan will do the trick)
  • a filter
  • a candy thermometer
  • an outdoor heat source (a simple fireplace can be built on the ground using cement blocks, or you can do it all on a camping stove, but plan on using lots of fuel)

Here’s what you do

1. Choose large, healthy maples, at least 30 cm in diameter.

2. Drill your holes at chest height, on a slight downward angle so that the sap drains out of the tree and into your pail, and make sure to drill no deeper than five centimetres. Tap the spile firmly into place, but not too tight or the bark may split.

3. Hang your sap-collecting pails on the spiles. You can use recycled plastic jugs, or purchase used aluminum sap buckets.

4. Sap should be boiled while it is cool and fresh. If stored for too long, bacterial contamination may occur. Ideally, once you’ve given it a rough filtering with cheesecloth or a sieve, you will boil the sap the day you collect it, or the following day. We store our sap in large plastic garbage cans (sterilized beforehand), heaping snow around them for refrigeration.

5. Don’t fill your pan to the brim with sap–fill it about five centimetres deep, and keep adding sap as the level decreases. To keep a continuous boil, it’s a good idea to pre-heat the sap you are adding. We heat ours in a large pot placed on the coals of our outdoor fire, but this could also be accomplished on a camping stove or woodstove. Skim the froth away as you boil.

6. When the sap darkens and approaches a syrupy consistency, start monitoring the temperature closely with a candy thermometer. When the temperature reaches a point four degrees above the boiling point of water, you’ve got syrup!

7. Pour the syrup through a filter into a holding container (we use a stainless-steel tank at a Manitoulin sugar shack, but a pot will do the trick). Commercially available synthetic felt filters are optimum (to ensure clarity, consider lining these with paper cone filters), but you might get away with cheesecloth and paper towel.

This article was originally published in the March 2004 issue of Cottage Life.

 

A voice from the wilderness

Get The Great Outdoors, our biweekly brief on all things nature

Sign up here

Categories
Cottage Life

How to protect hummingbirds during a spring cold snap

By spencerseesbirds/Shutterstock

However much we want spring to come, it often drags its feet. But no matter our frustration with reluctant above-zero temps, imagine a tiny Anna’s hummingbird, the only species that waits winter out in its territory along the west coast of North America, delighted to return to a favourite feeder only to find that sweet nectar encased in ice and completely inaccessible. Hummingbirds can consume half their body weight in sugar daily and have the highest metabolism of any warm-blooded animals on earth. With most of their food sources unavailable to them in the winter, they need that food.

Cottage Q&A: Feeding hummingbirds

The unpredictable weather this time of year has prompted a few wildlife groups to ask bird lovers to carefully monitor their hummingbird feeders. “These long winters are hard for Anna’s hummingbirds,” says Jackie McQuillan, the support centre manager with the Wildlife Rescue Association of BC on Burnaby Lake. “All of the other hummingbirds take what I would call the easier route and fly south for the winter,” she says, “but these birds, since about the 1940s, have stuck around the Lower Mainland and other areas of southern B.C.” Researchers theorize that various flowering invasive plant species provided food sources into cooler months, which kept the Anna’s hummingbirds from heading south with their avian associates. Whatever the reason, the hardy little birds stay put. And these days, many Anna’s hummingbirds rely on feeders as a winter food source.

How to photograph hummingbirds

McQuillan urges anyone with a feeder to commit to keeping it filled and paying particular attention during cold snaps to ensure that feeders are accessible. The easiest thing, McQuillan says, is to have two feeders and swap them out for each other during below freezing temperatures. You can also purchase a feeder warmer at a bird supply store or online. (It looks something like a lamppost with a feeder incorporated.) Some people attach hand warmers to their feeders. If you’re a truly enterprising DIYer, you can also jury-rig incandescent light bulbs to feeders. Google can guide you to instructions.

How to keep birds safe from Avian bird flu

Cleanliness is crucial too, McQuillan says, as diseases can spread easily at feeders. Once a week, wash your feeder with a 10 per cent bleach solution (nine parts water, one part bleach). Give it a good rinse and then refill it. And McQuillan leaves us with a heartbreaking caveat: avoid feeders with metal parts as the birds’ tiny tongues can get stuck when the metal gets cold.

A voice from the wilderness

Get The Great Outdoors, our biweekly brief on all things nature

Sign up here

Categories
Cottage Life

New report predicts some cottage regions could see steep price drops

Photo by JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock.com

A new report from economists at Desjardins predicts that the gradual fall of home prices in Ontario will continue, with some cottage country regions seeing drops of up to 50 per cent.

The authors noted that rural areas have seen major spikes over the past few years, with places such as Bancroft, Quinte, Muskoka, and Haliburton seeing the average home more than double in price from December 2019 to the peak in March 2022. “These communities have also seen the largest price declines, and that trend is expected to hold going forward,” the report states. Projections include: Bancroft with a drop of 50 per cent, Muskoka and Haliburton at 39 per cent, and Peterborough and the Kawarthas, 37 per cent. 

This comes as the housing market across Canada is cooling off in the face of rising interest rates and limited supply. While some projected drops for cottage country look alarming, it’s important to put things in context, says Anthony vanLieshout, the broker of record for Royal LePage Lakes of Haliburton. 

“Within Haliburton County from 2016 until the end of 2021, we saw property values appreciate to the tune of 300 per cent,” he said (a cottage around the $300,000 mark would’ve risen to nearly $1 million). After such a dramatic increase, he says it only makes sense that prices are creeping down; but a cottage that may now be in the $700,000 range isn’t exactly a steal.

The data and projections also consider homes in an entire region, not just cottages alone. Peterborough and the Kawarthas, for example, includes homes in the city of Peterborough, a different market than waterfront properties on nearby lakes. 

“I have been selling about three cottages a week for the last eight weeks,” said Jill Price, broker at RE/MAX All Stars Realty in the Bancroft and Kawarthas region. “In September, October it was hurting a little bit, and prices did go down, but now I’m seeing a steady increase in sales.”

Price said that cottages in the $600,000 range have been more difficult to sell, while those around the million dollar mark are moving fine, suggesting that wealthier buyers have been relatively insulated from rate hikes. She also described a “huge influx” of buyers—up to 50 per cent—purchasing strictly for investment, which also contributes to lower inventory.  

Overall, the housing market—and to a lesser extent, the cottage market—is coming down from what vanLieshout calls “unrealistic and unsustainable highs.”

He said one thing that’s not likely to change is the heightened interest in cottage living, a lasting effect of the pandemic. “It definitely featured cottages in a positive way, and the demand is always going to be higher than it ever was for those reasons,” he said. “I think that will hold for all of rural Ontario.” 

Buy, sell, rent, dream

Get The Key, our weekly newsletter on all things cottage real estate

Sign up here

Categories
Cottage Life

Top reasons to attend the Spring Cottage Life Show

The Spring Cottage Life Show is back and bigger than before. Over 500 exhibitors will be in attendance, demonstrating the latest and greatest cottage toys, innovative construction materials, and decor. It’s all going down March 23–26, 2023, at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ont. For more information about the show such as times, stage presentations, etc. click here.

  1. When you buy a ticket for the Spring Cottage Life Show, you are automatically entered for a chance to win $10,000 worth of gift cards for Cottage Toys, a contest sponsored by Aviva. Click here to buy your tickets.
  2. Meet the team behind Cottage Life magazine at the Cottage Life booth. While you’re there, learn about and subscribe to our brand new newsletter Family Matters, a five-part series designed to kickstart your succession planning. 
  3. This year, veteran Cottage Life carpenter Wayne Lennox and partner Brian Halbot are building an outdoor shower. Enter for a chance to win one in the Cottage Workshop area.
  4. Get the best deal on a Cottage Life magazine subscription at the show. Buy a 3-year subscription for $65, plus HST. Both the print and digital editions of the magazine are included, plus you’ll receive the Cottage Life log book as a bonus gift.
  5. Does your cottage wardrobe need a refresh? Some of our fan favourites, including our hallmark sweaters, will be for sale at the Cottage Life booth. 
  6. The show is family-friendly and infants between zero to three years receive free admission. Swing by the inflatable planetarium at the Family Activity Centre to keep the kids entertained.
  7. Did we mention there is a rock climbing wall in the Great Outdoors area?
  8. Don’t miss presentations on the Main Stage. Michelle Kelly, editor of Cottage Life, has some critical tips for keeping crafty critters away from the cottage, and Alysha Vandertogt, our senior associate editor, has the insider scoop on what new smart tech you need to make your cottage more efficient. To view the full presentation schedule for the Main Stage, click here.