  Living around a lake all year round doesn't come cheap. In the winter there's snowmobiling and ice fishing. In the spring and summer, fishermen and cottagers begin to arrive weekend in and weekend out until Thanksgiving and then the hunters arrive for deer and moose season. People fleeing north to escape the cities are considered tourists around here. To this community tourism was their bread and butter.
Without it times would be tough around here. Tourism is the major industry around here. Its the gateway to the northern part of Ontario in Canada. After tourism you have a 2 large car dealership and 2 smaller used dealers. Logging is always popular. With logging comes saw mills, lumber yards, and construction, too bad the employment was only seasonal.
Add to that, government services, convenience stores, a gas station, supermarket, hardware store, about a dozen restaurants and any small commercial venture created through self-employment and you come up with; a community of about 1000 people, smalltown rivalries, gossip like you wouldn't believe and a hangover every damn weekend. I guess I should tell you that my first opportunity was managing the local bar and helping out at what was supposed to be "the place to be" for tourists and locals. I have to tell you, opportunity knocked more than once while I worked there. Its quite a story. 
