ABOVE: Garrett Myren of Waters Edge in front of the lake steps he built last year for Ambiance on Albion in Fairmont.

FAIRMONT– Nearly a year into launching his business, Garrett Myren has made a name for himself among lake property owners. The 2019 Fairmont High School graduate does dock installation and removal, exterior carpentry–namely lake steps– and is newly certified to treat aquatic invasive species. All of these services he provides through his business, Waters Edge.

The son of Steve and Mari, Myren went to Bemidji State for a semester after graduating to play football before he transferred and finished up at University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 2023 with a degree in Finance.

Myren had interned at Sweet Financial in Fairmont and said he would have used his degree to become a financial advisor, but after more thought he realized he would rather do manual labor and work outdoors

“I’d rather be out and have a change of scenery, rather than go to the same spot everyday,” he said.

In early June of 2023, Myren applied for an LLC for his business.

“I had been doing it for a few years and was going to do it one last year, but I ended up getting a lot of docks and thought it was too enjoyable to give up. I decided to put both feet in, rather than one foot in and one foot out,” Myren said.

He had learned carpentry from his fiancé Savannah Glienke’s father, Tim, who has been building lake steps for many years.

“He showed me how to do it, and then we took the training wheels off and he said, ‘here you go,'” Myren said.

He estimates he’s done about 25 lake steps– 10 to 15 large steps and some smaller ones. Last year he took on a big project as he did the lake steps for Ambiance on Albion.

As it’s a pretty seasonal business, work began picking up early this year, in March, with the unseasonably warm spring. Myren has been busy since then and estimates that by the Fourth of July he’ll meet the total growth sales from all last year.

“Everyone needs their dock in by Memorial Day weekend and they want their steps done by the Fourth of July,” Myren explained.

After that it slows down a little and in the winter, Myren works at Pierce Accounting.

This year, his brother Joe is working with him part-time and plans to be back on a more full-time basis next year. He also has friends who help out with certain jobs which are hard to complete solo.

Right now he builds the stringer for the steps on site in his home, but puts together the steps on site. Eventually he would like to have a separate shop for his business and he’s begun to look at possible locations.

Ultimately Myren would like to stay in Fairmont, but build up and branch out his business.

“There’s a good stretch of lakes from Mankato to Faribault and I could also expand into Okoboji. This would be a centralized location,” Myren said.

Aside from mainly working in Fairmont, Myren has done work in Lake Crystal, Willmar and has a job lined up in Annandale this summer.

While working closely to the lakes last year, Myren saw how bad the weeds were, especially Curly Leaf Pondweed. He realized it would only get worse so he decided to become certified with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to be able to remove it.

“I offer it as a service and clear the weeds away manually,” Myren explained. “The big thing is getting it out around mid-June, or before the Fourth of July.”

If not removed, the weeds will die around that time and in the process drop all of their seeds, which will then re-seed in the bottom of the lake and the weeds will come back thicker.

“I’m doing it because it needs to be done. The lakes are our main attraction in Fairmont and if outsiders come and see it, it’s not great,” Myren said.

He has enjoyed the challenges that starting his own business has brought.

“I have to do it myself and if I’m not doing it correctly I’m not going to get business or repeat customers,” Myren said.

Fortunately, he has a good team of supporters, which he’s grateful for.

“It’s been tremendous, for sure. My buddies wear my sweatshirts and hats around town, which is nice,” he said.

Myren would like to get a website up for his business but for now he has a Facebook page where he shares information and progress pictures of some of his projects.