Baytona is a small rural community found in

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. It is situated off of Route 340, which runs from Lewisporte to Twillingate island, aptly named "Road to the Isles". A bay separates Baytona from a neighboring town called

Birchy Bay Birchy Bay is a small community found in Notre Dame Bay in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. History The name Birchy Bay is derived from the many birch trees which were found on its shores many years ago. Birchy Bay was first ...

. The first settlers of Baytona were fishermen, with women mainly staying home to raise children; however, with a depletion in

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

stocks and

lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

s, there was a shift away from the

fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...

. Baytona has a

fire department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...

and a recreation committee. There is currently one running

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

. The community has a playground, and a basketball court. The town also has an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

and a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

church.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Baytona had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Name change

Originally, Baytona was known as "Birchy Bay North". In 1958 the name was changed to "Gayside" to help the flow of mail delivery. The name was a play on the word "gay", which at that time meant happy, implying that Gayside was the more pleasant of the two communities. However, in 1985, due to a change in definition of the word "gay", and subsequent joking and harassment of neighbouring communities, the name of the town was, once again, changed from "Gayside" to "Baytona".

References

{{Subdivisions of Newfoundland and Labrador, towns=yes, ICG=yes Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador