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About Us
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About Us
Our Story
Since 1992, Cottager Publications has delivered a magazine that gets to the heart of cottage living. The Cottager is the brainchild of Glenn Halgren and his wife Cathy, who set out to put their passion into a publication. As permanent residents of Victoria Beach, the Halgrens know and care about what's important to those who enjoy lakeside living, because that includes them. A former commercial fisherman, Glenn has a deep connection to life on and around Manitoba's lakes.
From cabin building to renovating, from boating and fishing, from cottage style to cottage entertaining, and much more, The Cottager covers the issues and interests of those who have or are seeking the best of lake life in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario.
In The Beginning
By Judy Owen
Photography by Artistic Impressions
 Publishers Glenn and Cathy Halgren smile at each other as they recall the debut of The Cottager magazine.
There they were in 1992 with 15,000 copies of a spring/summer issue, but there was one little problem.
"We didn't know what to do with them," Glenn says with a laugh. "We basically had no business plan.
"We thought we were going to sell all these magazines in stores and then we found out they'd only take seven to 10 magazines at a time. After sending copies to sales reps in cottage country, we had a lot of magazines left to distribute."
Knowing they had to get exposure for their product, they took matters into their own hands.
"Cathy and I drove around Winnipeg and we'd leave them at shopping malls between the doors, in a box," he says.
"The security guards were phoning us saying we couldn't do that."
They also lugged boxes of the mags and left them inside apartment buildings along Wellington Crescent, figuring residents might be cottage owners.
Considering the mags had a cover price of $2, it was a costly lesson.
"We lost $6,000 on our first issue," Glenn says with a wry smile.
"I think we could write a book on how not to do it," Cathy adds with a smile.
But the couple didn't give up and The Cottager is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
The idea for the magazine was born at Victoria Beach, a community on the southeastern shores of Lake Winnipeg where Glenn's family lived year-round.
Like his father before him, Glenn was a commercial fisherman and also did policing and drove a 'taxi' at Victoria Beach, which has a restricted cottage area that doesn't allow cottagers' vehicles in during the summer.
He and Cathy met through friends when she spent the summers at her family's cottage in nearby Hillside Beach. They married in 1981, have a son and daughter and live year-round in the unrestricted area at Victoria Beach.
When Glenn developed rheumatoid arthritis and had to cut back on fishing, he and Cathy looked for ways to supplement the family income. Cathy was a real estate agent and also worked at Albert Beach's Saffies General Store.
It was his taxi job that sparked their foray into publishing.
"People always kept asking me if I knew a plumber, an electrician, service people out there," Glenn says.
While sitting in a Salisbury House restaurant one day with his brother, Thor, they came up with an idea of putting out a yearly booklet of ads about local businesses. The first Cottager's Guide to the Eastern Beaches came out in 1989 and is still flourishing today.
Its success led to the idea of expanding into The Cottager magazine, targetting cottage areas across Manitoba. They included part of Saskatchewan for a few years and then switched to add Northwestern Ontario.
Selling subscriptions at events such as boat shows and Home Expressions shows helped get the word out.
"After about five years, people were coming up saying, 'Oh, we love this magazine,' " Glenn recalls. "I think that's what kept us holding on."
"We're so grateful to everyone who supported us," Cathy adds. "The advertisers, subscribers and all our staff over the years – they helped keep our dream alive."
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