[CS Monitor Feature] Endless summer? More Canadians embrace a getaway lifestyle.

Written by Sara Miller Llana for The Christian Science Monitor

Sara Miller Llana/Staff — Fenelon Falls has drawn a small but determined number of year-round ‘cottagers’ who are helping to revitalize [the] main street

“…summers at the “cottage” are part of the seasonal ritual for city dwellers across Canada. Tim Wisener spent each of his on one of the 250 lakes and rivers that dot the municipality of Kawartha Lakes, east of Toronto. He still recalls what it felt like when their car made the last turn. “It was freedom at the end of road,” he says. “You had a bicycle, and your mother did not want to see you until dinner.”

Last fall, he and his husband Chris Van Lierop decided to relocate to that cottage, setting up their design company, Home By Tim+Chris, in the town of Fenelon Falls. Their market is other cottagers who want to prepare their properties beyond simply summering, and their growth shows the demand: they’ve expanded to eight employees in a year.

They’ve also joined the chamber of commerce and downtown revitalization committee. Mr. Wisener is working to bring a theater company to Fenelon Falls for a run next summer. This summer they opened a gallery space on the town's main street, in a former radio station and dance studio that were both shuttered.

“One of our reasons for opening a gallery was that we really wanted to give another opportunity for the lights to be on,” Wisener says. “Things don’t need to shut down."

Read the full article on the Christian Science Monitor website.