How we helped Camp Cantina turn a strong hospitality concept into a place-anchored brand system—nostalgic yet elevated, built to scale from summer patio evenings to winter après events in a National Park.
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Camp Cantina is a seasonal wine bar and curated provisions shop in Wasagaming, Manitoba, in the heart of Clear Lake. Here, the team pours low-intervention wines, serves nostalgic small plates, and stocks camp-inspired goods that feel at home in Riding Mountain National Park.
When founder and sommelier Megan Tymura set out to open Camp Cantina, she already had a strong concept and a partner in UpHouse to lead naming and brand strategy.
The name and location were set, and the Pinterest board was full of deli counters, warm lights, and “parkitecture” interiors. The feeling was there, but the brand system was not.
Camp Cantina was designed to be many things at once, and Megan needed a visual identity that could stretch across all of that without losing focus.
UpHouse had named Camp Cantina and shaped the strategic foundation before bringing in Little Ghost to do what we do best: deep, research-driven storytelling. A visual language anchored in place, history, and the way a spot actually feels to locals and visitors.
The client’s moodboard told part of the story, full of tile, bar layouts, wood textures, and cozy lamps. What it did not do was tie those details together in a clear direction for the logo, typography, and system that would have to live on menus, packaging, social posts, and future events.
Camp Cantina needed a nostalgic but elevated identity that could work as a wine bar, a deli, and a destination worth the drive.
Robyn, Little Ghost's Brand Director, sat down with Megan to talk through the space, the food, and the kind of guests Camp Cantina would attract: creative professionals on weekend trips, families and friend groups with dogs in tow, and people who pick the restaurant based on both the wine list and the beautifully matchbooks sitting in a bowl at the bar. Then she went hunting for history.
Robyn joined a Clear Lake history Facebook group and sifted through archival photos, old postcards, and stories from long-time locals. She looked at images of the historic Danceland building where Camp Cantina is located, early tourism posters, and snapshots of Riding Mountain’s lakes under star-filled skies.
Those details guided everything that followed. Colours pulled from the natural beauty and build enviroment in Riding Mountain National Park, shapes inspired by the park's horseback riding history, and visual references to the way Clear Lake has drawn visitors for generations.
The moodboard shifted from a loose collection of nice interiors into a tight, story-driven map for the brand.
The ease of a campfire, the polish of a sommelier-curated wine list, the charm of a provisions shop where you pick up canned fish, salts, and picnic baskets before heading to the beach.
Instead of following the usual “two fonts only” rule, Robyn built a type system that reflected that mix on purpose.
Five typefaces work together to reflect the different sides of the space.
An elevated, blobby script that feels like poured wine. Western-inspired letterforms that nod to horseback riding and prairie roads. A refined serif that hints at fine dining. A warm, cabin-style body font that feels at home on a menu or camp brochure.
On paper, it might sound like too much, but in practice, it matches the room. It gives the brand the same layered personality guests feel when they walk in from the street and spot the records, the deli counter, and the wine list all at once.
The mark pulls in several ideas at once. The famous Dom Pérignon quote about “tasting the stars.” The dark night skies over Riding Mountain. The spur on the back of a cowboy boot. The curved “C” of Camp Cantina. The stem and base of a wine glass.
We built the mark to move. It stretches alongside the wordmark, it stacks into a tile pattern, it tucks into corners on menus and coasters. It reads as a single symbol on a tote bag, then as a constellation on a wall.
The full identity package included a core logo and responsive submarks for different formats, a flexible type system with clear guidance on how to mix styles, a colour palette pulled from forest greens, warm wood, and lake sunsets, and concepts for signage, packaging, and merchandise.
Locals and summer visitors shared photos of the space, the menus, and the details. The identity looked right alongside other Manitoba restaurants, but felt especially rooted in this one lake town.
Megan took the tools and ran with them. She activated the brand across Instagram, menus, and merchandise. She stocked provisions that matched the story. The space became one of the most talked-about new spots in Riding Mountain National Park and Clear Lake.
An event that would host fondue nights, après-ski socials, and wine tastings through the colder months, so the brand needed a fresh, 70s-inspired après ski branding that still felt like Camp Cantina.
Rather than starting over, we treated it as the next chapter in the same system.
Keeping the structure of the original identity, we shifted the palette, swapping forest green for a deep alpine blue and warming up the supporting colours. We added a stem to the original star logomark so it could double as a wine glass icon for winter activations.
We tried the existing typefaces with the new words and phrases, then introduced “The Après Social Club” as a sub-brand that sits comfortably beside the core Camp Cantina logo.
The result is a winter identity that feels like the same story under fresh snow. Guests can recognize the brand, but the après spin gives them a new reason to visit.
The brand system has supported summer and winter activation marketing without confusing guests, new events and offerings, from picnics to après socials, collaborative products, including a beer with another female-owned company, Good Neighbour Brewing, and ongoing social content and small business brand activation, without a full design team on staff.
Because the Camp Cantina brand is anchored in a clear concept and a sense of place, it adapts instead of breaking. The same star that signals “taste the stars” for sparkling wine in summer turns into a wine glass under string lights in winter. The same nostalgic brand identity works on a provisions shelf, on a record sleeve, and on a snow-day event poster.
Camp Cantina is a strong example of boutique hospitality branding and a seasonal brand design case study in how to build a system that supports both domestic tourism and long-term business growth.
The bottom line: when you design a brand as a living system, you leave room for new ideas, new revenue streams, and new seasons without losing the soul of the place.
We can help you build an identity that holds up from first summer service to your next winter pop-up.
Photography has been generously provided by Camp Cantina.
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