Category: Committee News

A New Membership Committee is COMPLETE!

At the GCOA Annual General Meeting on April 24th, 2024, we welcomed an additional cottager to the Board and Membership Committee. The committee is now led by Howard Thiessen and Darlene Dean. Over the past year, the GCOA has diligently developed a process for maintaining and updating our cottager contact database. With this system now in place, the new Membership Committee will have no trouble keeping the GCOA membership and contacts list current. This will ensure that all cottagers are well-informed and actively involved!

See below the summary of the Membership Committee’s Roles and Responsibilities.


GCOA Membership Committee

This detailed outline provides a clear understanding of the committee’s operations and procedures, ensuring efficient management of membership affairs within the GCOA.

Introduction / Background:

  • The Membership Committee was established alongside the GCOA board to support the organization financially through membership fees.
  • Members have rights including attending meetings, voting on motions, receiving newsletters, participating in events, and accessing other benefits.
  • Membership fees are annual, due at the beginning of the calendar year, and are tied to cottage addresses.

Roles and Responsibilities:

  • Maintain a contact list of members and track contact information for other cottagers.
  • Organize, track, and collect membership fees.
  • Maintain an email distribution list for communication purposes.
  • Obtain cottage owner/lessee lists from the Real Estate Services Branch for updates.

Committee Procedures:

  1. Contact List:
    • Utilize Microsoft Excel for now, with plans to transition to Membershipworks.
    • Maintain various tabs for tracking membership status, additional emails, email distribution, advance payments, and subdivision lists.
  2. Real Estate Services Branch Cottager List:
    • Obtain the list annually, containing lessee names and home addresses.
    • Board is responsible for obtaining email addresses and phone numbers.
  3. Membership Email Address:
    • Use designated email address for membership matters, including receiving e-transfers.
    • Notify Treasurer of received e-transfers and file corresponding receipts.
  4. Payment Collection & Canvassing:
    • Collect payments via cash, cheque, credit card, or e-transfer.
    • Provide receipts for cash/cheque payments, track payments received.
    • Use credit card scanning device for credit card payments.
    • Supply flyers for marketing and information purposes during canvassing.
  5. Membership Incentive Program:
    • Manage the incentive program, ensuring members receive their discount cards upon payment.
    • Track members who have paid but not received their incentive cards and ensure delivery.

Membership Committee launches new member incentive program!!

This year your board and membership committee has spend a great deal of time reaching out to various vendors & companies looking to see if they would be willing to support the community and join an incentive program.  Our goal was to provide more of encouragement for Grindstone Cottagers to become a member.  In the return, the vendor would gain additional traffic and business they may not otherwise had.  So, we’ve added many more additional benefits and perks to that cottager membership.

READ MORE to see all of the benefits and incentives members can receive.


Grindstone Clothing Co – Taking it easy this summer!

Happy Spring Cottagers! Well, sort of. Hopefully we’ve seen the last of the snow! We’d like to offer a huge thanks again for your continued support of our fun little side project at the lake. We love seeing so many people sporting their Sweaters, T-shirts and Hats around the lake, and in the city! As many of you know, we have a Mini-Grindstoner named Scarlett who fills our day with so much joy and loves spending time at the cottage. She’s almost three, and is ready to actively participate in Grindstone Days. With that being said, Taylor and I feel as though we need to take a brief hiatus from Grindstone Clothing, so that we can enjoy our long weekends, and especially Grindstone Days with our daughter. We’ll be having a flash sale in late spring/early summer, so keep your eyes peeled to our Facebook and Instagram Pages.

We may have small drops from time to time (like baseball hats, toques or specialty sweaters), so fear not, we will most definitely be back! Thank you again for all of the support over the year. See you at the lake!


Grindstone Clothing Co – Ready for another busy summer!

We are gearing up for another busy summer with Grindstone Clothing. We’ll have some of your favourites back in stock for the first time in a couple of years, like Tank Tops. Baseball hats and Toddler clothes were popular last year, so we’ll be sure to stock up on those again as well.

We are gearing up for another busy summer with Grindstone Clothing. We’ll have some of your favourites back in stock for the first time in a couple of years, like Tank Tops. Baseball hats and Toddler clothes were popular last year, so we’ll be sure to stock up on those again as well.

We truly love seeing so many people sporting Grindstone Clothing around the park and in the city as well.

We’re excited to be setting up a table again at The Pancake Breakfast. We’ll be fully stocked and ready to take everyone’s orders. As a reminder we accept cash and all major credit cards.

If you can’t make it to The Pancake Breakfast, feel free to send us a message or drop by 53 Birch Crescent to order/pick up your items!

We’re always looking for suggestions on new items, or new colours to bring in each year. Please reach out via email, Facebook or Instagram if you have any suggestions.

Do you have suggestion for new product?

Contact us at: [email protected]

See you at the Beach!

– Kim & Taylor Gerbinski


Trails Committee News Update

The Grindstone Trails Committee is 100% Volunteer based, and does a truly amazing job of keeping our trails safe and clear for everyone to enjoy! The team was limited on some of the maintenance they were able to do over the summer due to the extremely dry conditions, but caught up once we saw some precipitation.

The Grindstone Trails Committee is 100% Volunteer based, and does a truly amazing job of keeping our trails safe and clear for everyone to enjoy! The team was limited on some of the maintenance they were able to do over the summer due to the extremely dry conditions, but caught up once we saw some precipitation.

As the winter months are upon us, our Trails Committee shifts gears and maintains the trails for our skiers and snowmobilers. This includes marking out the snow-pass trails and grooming local trails so they’re accessible for everyone! They’ve already been busy this winter clearing brush from on the Washow Bay trail as well as many other trails throughout the subdivisions. Over the Christmas/New Years break they will be busy continuing these efforts.

The trails committee in partnership with The COA and Parks have submitted an application to Trails Manitoba to take part in one of their grants. If approved – the Trails Committee will use the grant money to maintain and update current trails within the park, as well as begin developing a trail along the main gravel road from the warm up shelter at Mile 10 eventually to North Cliffs. This trail will be located along the powerlines and will piggyback on clearing that Hydro will be doing during Q1 of 2022. Snowmobilers, Skiers, Walkers and Snow Shoers will be able to use this new trail and safely access the warm up shack without having to use the road.

The Trails Committee is ALWAYS looking for more volunteers to join. If you’re interested in working to keep our park beautiful and expand our trails system or have any questions or concerns , please contact us at [email protected]


Grindstone Clothing Co – Overwhelmed at the Grindstone support!

We continue to be overwhelmed by the amazing support we’ve received from the Grindstone Community. Thanks in part to the Grindstone General Store’s Farmers Market on September Long  weekend, we were able to launch a new logo, as well as some items for your little ones! And WOW…you guys kept us HOPPING all day! We sold out of almost all of our new stock!

Our goal is to provide affordable comfy clothing items while giving back to our cottage community. All profits from our clothing sales are donated back to the GCOA for special projects (like the new play structure at Blacks Point Beach!)

We’ve got our sights set on some other fun projects to support in the future, so from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU GRINDSTONE! As long as you keep loving these items, we’ll keep bringing them in!

Although it’s close to Christmas, we do still have some products in stock for the winter season, including toques! Feel free to drop us a line anytime at [email protected], or find us on

Facebook and Instagram @grindstoneclothingco Thank you again, and we can’t wait to see everyone at the lake!

Happy Holidays!

– Kim & Taylor Gerbinski

Do you have suggestion for new product?
Contact us at: [email protected]


Grindstone Clothing Co – Incredible year; despite Pandemic!

Grindstone Clothing has been around for just over two years now, and what an adventure it has been. The support the Grindstone community has shown us, has been absolutely incredible! This year has proven to be a bit of a challenge with Covid-19, but thanks to the wonderful farmers market hosted by the store, we were able to get some new product out to our wonderful supporters.

We are thrilled at the response we received about the Toques, and completely sold out of them! After an incredible 2 years, Taylor and I are overjoyed to announce that we will be donating $3,000 to the GCOA. These funds have been designated for the construction of a play structure at Blacks Point Beach. So again, THANK YOU COTTAGERS! This donation would not have been possible without your support. It’s because of you, that we now get to put a play structure up at Blacks Point Beach.

We’re already working on some new exciting products for next year. Stay tuned to our Facebook and Instagram pages for announcements! If you’re looking for a Christmas gift, drop us a line. We have limited stock, but are happy to set up contactless pickup/delivery. Do you have a suggestion for new product? Contact us at [email protected]


Grindstone Clothing Co – Thankful for all your support!

We at Grindstone Clothing are so thankful of all the support this wonderful cottage community has shown us over the last couple years. We are a husband and wife operation who donates all profits from clothing sales back to the Cottage Owners Association. Covid 19 has given us some challenges, as we aren’t able to sell items at large events. With this challenge we have not be able to bring in a ton of new items. We’re hoping that 2022 brings some normalcy back and that we can show you what we’ve been working on!

We do still have a limited supply of hoodies, sweatshirts, t-shirts and tank tops if anyone is in need of cozy cabin wear. Stay tuned for more announcements of new products in the future! Thank you again for all the wonderful support!

Kim & Taylor Gerbinski Do you have a suggestion for new product? Contact us at: [email protected]


Grindstone Clothing Co – Clothing Still Available!

We want to thank everyone for their continued support of Grindstone Clothing. Due to Covid-19 we will not be getting any new merchandise in this summer. However, we still have T-Shirts, Crew Necks and Hoodies available for purchase.

Please email [email protected] or call Kim at 204-799-5324 to place your order. We are expecting a new Grindstoner in our family in early July and will be limiting our time at the lake in the early summer.

All profits go back to the GCOA, and we accept all major credit cards! See you this summer!…


Trails Committee – Summary of 2020

The trail committee kept busy maintaining the trails throughout the year, despite the pandemic situation.  Keeping the windfall clear, the sno man trail groomed, clearing for new trails, maintain signage, and planning future goals is what the committee has been all about in the past year.

  1. Members of the Trails Committee cleared the windfall from all the trails.  This seemed to be a bigger problem than normal due to high winds and an aging forest. Please note that if volunteers did not do this work and it becomes the responsibility of Parks Staff, Parks will be charging for outlying costs plus the hourly rate paid to their staff. That cost would be added to our fees for service.
  2. The Interlake SnoTrackers groomed the trail from Washow Bay to Grindstone.  They also received permission to groom in a loop across to Hecla and to Riverton.  This will be a benefit as the trail from Grindstone to Hecla will be groomed more often. Volunteers from the trails committee marked the trail and at the end of the season removed the markers.  If Grindstone snowmobilers want this to continue, volunteers need to assist by helping mark the trail to Washow Bay and to remove the markers at the end of the season. This year our cost for marking, removing markers and maintaining the signage throughout the riding season was $350.00. If we receive a donation from the Interlake Sno Trackers it will be placed in our account and used to pay expenses for the maintenance of trails in 2021. 
  3. It is still the goal of the committee to do the following in the near future:
    1. Develop an all use trail from Blacks Point to the warm up shelter. Hydro did not approve volunteers working under the hydro lines due to safety concerns. Hydro did indicate that they plan to start work before fall. We have been waiting for the last 5 years for hydro to do the clearing.
    1. Volunteers cleared a trial on the west side of the road. This trail accesses three ponds.  This is a nice trail as it is open to sunlight along the ponds and often you can encounter wildlife. Interest has been expressed in having an exclusive ski trail. This trail can be designated as a ski trail. Interested skiers can build a ski groomer and a volunteer could provide a snowmobile to pull the groomer.
    1. The Muriel Lake Trail is a beautiful ATV, snowmobile trail. We made a by- pass around the swamps and now the trail is accessible for walking, biking, etc. year round.  However, this trail needs a lot of work as over time the under growth has encroached the trail. 
    1. The trails committee initiated the purchase of a pull behind mower/brush cutter. The Association reimbursed the trails committee. We are now able to cut the grass on all trails without relying on Parks. Since we are now charged fee for service; by cutting the grass on the trails ourselves this reduces our cottage fees. Presently the brush cutter is pulled by a tractor owned by a volunteer. The rush cutter is equipped with air tires. The tires have been punctured a number of times and need to be replaced. They should be replaced with airless tires. The Association should seriously consider purchasing a tractor as it cannot rely on a volunteer donating a tractor indefinitely.
    1. The Provincial Government announced that it is providing an additional $2.5 million for trails development and maintenance. We will be in contact with Parks as to who is responsible to make an application for a grant.

Submitted by Joe Mudry